The Story Of Mitarashi Naruto
by AnkoSupaFan
Summary: Naruto is saved and adopted by Anko. Will the two who are so alike be able to survive together through the most dangerous of all missions, life? How will he and his team and the other Konoha Genin fare in the Chunin Exams? NaruTen, Currently Revising
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.**

**THE STORY OF MITARASHI NARUTO**

**CHAPTER 1: WHAT AM I THINKING?**

"What the fuck was I thinking?" she asked herself. "I can barely manage to keep myself from getting killed on a regular basis, and here I go taking some kid with the same problem to raise. I'm not even old enough to have my own kid…"

"I think you were thinking that you didn't want another person have to go through what you do, especially one so young." a man said walking into the kitchen were the woman was at. He looked at her with his one visible eye, while making a smile of sorts. He put a small orange book away and turned to face the woman. "Besides, I think that this will be good for the both of you, Anko."

"I know… It's just raising a kid is a lot of work that I'm not sure I'm ready for just yet. I mean, I just now turned 16. This is a sudden change, Kakashi." Anko replied as she finished her glass of sake.

"You'll be fine… If you still have doubts though, I will be glad to take him off your hands for you." Kakashi told her.

"Hell no! I'd rather die than to see someone as innocent as him turn into a perverted, tardy bastard like yourself!" Anko shouted.

"See, you're on the right track already." Kakashi said. "Anyways, I must be off, make sure you go report to Hokage-sama about his first night with you."

With a puff of smoke, Kakashi vanished leaving Anko alone again. She let out a small sigh as she returned to the sight of the small boy. She took of her coat and hung it on the door, and then sat back down in a chair by the boy's bed. He was drenched with sweat, as he began to kick in fear, as if he was having a nightmare. Anko slowly rubbed the side of cheek. His kicking slowed and then stopped, as if it had been enough to calm him down.

"Those damn bastards…" she said in a low voice. She closed her eyes for a moment and began to play that night back in her head.

_Anko was walking home from a small shop in the west side of town which sold some of the best dango in town. She had just finished putting down her third plate, and was walking out of the restaurant with a rather happy smile on face. Despite what people saw though, this was not a face of joy. It was merely a mask. She walked down the road, looking at people out of the corner of her eye. They'd mutter things like traitor, monster, and whore. If not for the sheer amount of restraint she had forced herself to hold onto, she would leap out and kill everyone of those bastards. Instead, she shrugged it off, like she always did, and continued to make her way home, to the lone tower which rested in the Forest of Death._

_As she was turning the corner of the street which lead to the fence that she leapt over to get to the forest, she came to what was an odd site. A group of villagers, were encircled around something. From this angle, she could not quite make out what it was they were shouting at, however she had heard the terms they were using. Monster, demon, brat, some of the things she was often called. With a sigh, Anko threw caution into the wind, and leapt on to the nearest building. She quickly sprint across the rooftops, making her way towards the crowd. The yelling became more violent and loud as she came closer. She nearly fell at the sight she saw. The anger now welling up inside of her._

_In the center of the crowd, was a small boy. His face covered in dirt, and tears rolling down the side of his face. Terror, hate, and sadness filled his beautiful, blue eyes as well. He wore simple, ragged like clothing. An overgrown black t-shirt, which was barely hanging on to him any more, and a pair of dark blue shorts. Blood was running down the side of his face and his arms, as he tightly held a small teddy bear, as if he was expecting it to keep him safe from harm. With a single word, one of the villagers in the circle, walked up and kicked the small boy in the stomach, causing him to fall over into the mud. Another villager to advantage of this, jamming a kunai into the small child's leg. Anko's eyes focused in on that one who stabbed the pour child. Her eyes widened with anger as she saw the Chuunin jacket he was wearing. That was it. Anko would not let this shit go on any longer._

_"Leave him alone you, bastards!" she shouted._

_Anko leapt of the rooftop and landed in the middle of the circle. The small child looked even worse up close. One of his eyes were swollen shut. Mud, dirt, and blood were covering his hair. Cuts, scrapes, scratches, and dried blood ran down his legs and arms. This only made her more angry. The small child looked up at her with his ocean-blue eyes, before they closed and he passed out._

_"What the hell are you doing, bitch?!" cried the Chuunin. "Move aside so we can kill that demon bastard once and for all!"_

_"What demon?! All I see is a poor child being beaten for something retarded!" Anko replied._

_"Just goes to show you what filthy, treasonous, slut like you knows!" a woman shouted at her. "This monster child is the Kyuubi! Refusing to move shows that you are just as evil as the bastard is!"_

_"Evil…" Anko said to herself. "You want evil? You got it!"_

_Anko quickly formed several hand signs. She shot both of her arms forwards, causing snakes to shoot out of the sleeves of her jacket, straight at the villagers surrounding her and the small boy. One of them latched on to the Chuunin's face, its fangs impacting the skull of the shinobi. The townspeople quickly scattered to avoid the snakes. Anko used this opportunity to scoop the boy carefully into her arms, and run with him. Behind her she could hear the shouts of the villagers as theydecided to chase after the two. Anko knew she had to think of something, anything to save herself, as well as the child from the people's wrath. Without thinking, she turned a corner, only to find herself in a dead-end alleyway. She backed up against the wall, cradling the small child as if her life depended on it. Her eyes widened with hate as she saw them approaching._

_"It's over monsters." one of the chasers shouted._

_"You're right. It is." a voice replied._

_With a puff of smoke, various Jounin now stood in between Anko and the child, and the townspeople. They all backed away, before one of the Jounin stepped forward. His silver hair shined in the light of the moon. You couldn't see much of his face, as it was hidden behind his hitai-ate and a face mask. After the townspeople recognized him, they turned and fled. The man sighed and turned to face Anko and the boy._

_"Are you both alright?" he asked. Anko slowly nodded her head. "Good. Now then, I'm going to need you to hand over the boy." he replied._

_Anko hesitated. What if this was another trick, for more people to hurt him. She looked at the child in her arms._

_"No." she responded. She looked at him with fear of what would happen next. Her fingers rubbed the small whisker marks on his face. "Only if you let me come with him." Anko froze for a moment when she heard those words come out of her mouth._

_"I promise, nothing will happen." the man replied._

_Anko slowly handed him the boy and the two took off towards Hokage Tower. In his office, the third Hokage sat taking a break from the overflowing paper work on his desk. He took one long puff on his pipe before trying to get back to work. He sighed. This was a lot harder now than it was a long time ago. He picked up his pen to do some signing, when he heard a knock on his door._

_"May I help you?" he called out._

_"Two visitors for you Hokage-sama." the woman behind the door called out._

_"I see." the third replied. "Please send them in." The woman nodded and through the doors entered Anko, along with the man that had saved her. The man holding the child, the child still holding his teddy bear._

_"Kakashi… Anko…Naruto?" the Hokage asked._

_"Is that the kid's name?" Anko asked._

_She put her hand on his head and noticed that he was running a small fever. The Sandaime simply nodded, and turned to Kakashi. Said Jounin stood at attention as he knew a report was expected._

_"What happened?" he asked._

_"We found him being attacked by a group of villagers again." Kakashi explained. "Anko arrived to aid in his protection first, and when several other Jounin, including myself arrived, we were able to drive the rest of them off."_

_He slowly walked over to a couch nearby and placed Naruto on it to rest. Anko looked with concern about what in the world could have driven the villagers to attack a poor child like that. Anko looked back at the Hokage and walked towards him._

_"Who is he?" she asked. "The name you called him, Naruto… Sounds familiar…"_

_"It should." the Hokage replied. Kakashi looked at him with concerned, but the old man's nod was enough to tell the Jounin that it was ok to tell Anko. "His full name… Is Uzumaki Naruto."_

_"Uzumaki?" Anko asked. Her eyes suddenly flashed when she remembered. "He's the kid with the fox demon sealed in him, ain't he?"_

_"Correct." Kakashi replied. "As a result, many of the people see him as the demon itself, instead of a carrier for it. They only see the demon, not the boy."_

_"Just like me…" Anko said to herself._

_"What was that, Anko?" the Sandaime asked._

_"It's nothing…" she replied. "So what will happen now?"_

_"A nurse is on the way to remove the kunai and treat some of his wounds." the old man replied. After which, he will remain here for the night and then in the morning I will place him in the orphanage again until he is about seven."_

_"Again?" Anko asked. "You mean this isn't the first time he's been there?"_

_"I'm afraid not." the Third said. He retook his seat behind the desk and took a puff of his pipe. "He has been kicked out of the orphanage several times, I manage to pay a fee to get him back in, and then the cycle will repeat itself."_

_"So why do you keep sending him back even though they'll just toss him back out?" Anko asked._

_"There is nothing else that can be done." Kakashi says. "We try our best to keep watch of him, but with most of the Jounnin running missions, and the Hokage working to restore order to the town after the demon's attack and such, it is not easy to always be there for him."_

_Anko looked at the boy with her eyes beginning to water. He was being forced to suffer because of the village's issues of not being able to look deep into who Naruto really is. It was just like her on so many levels. She returned to the Leaf Village, to redeem herself, to work to be forgiven, but even after three years and becoming one of the youngest Jounin ever, she was still looked at as the scum of the village, much like Naruto. The nurse walked in and there was silence for the next thirty minutes. After she had done the treatment, she bowed and left the three and Naruto to themselves again._

_"It's getting late." the Hokage said. "You should both retire for the evening. Thank you for protecting Naruto for me Anko."_

_"Wait!" Anko suddenly shouted. Kakashi and the Hokage both looked at her with widened eyes. "Let… I mean… I want to watch him. I want to… Adopt Naruto." She was stunned. Did those words really come out of her mouth?_

_"You?" Kakashi asked in surprise. "Are you sure about that? I mean, it seems rather rushed that you just jumped to that conclusion."_

_"I'm sure." Anko replied. "I want to do this. I want to protect Naruto from what I go through, and what path in life I took because of the pain of being alone."_

_The Hokage scratched his beard and nodded. "Take the boy home tonight. Kakashi shall escort you both there. Spend time with him tonight and tomorrow, and then be back here around 4 P.M. to make your final decision."_

_Anko nodded and walked to Naruto. She carefully held him in her arms, and in an act that surprised them all, Anko included, kissed him on the forehead, telling him that he would not have to be alone ever again. Kakashi excused themselves escorted the two to the place she called home._

Anko's eyes snapped open as she felt a sudden jerk. She looked up and saw a groggy, tired, and confused Naruto looking around his current location. He then looked down and saw Anko. Both of their eyes truly meeting for the first time.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**THE STORY OF MITARASHI NARUTO**

**CHAPTER 2: ANKO'S ANSWER**

Anko stared straight into Naruto's eyes. The small boy did the same thing. Neither of them knew what to do. Anko noticed the boy shaking some in fear. He clutched the small teddy bear by his side, pulling it into his lap. Thoughts were racing through Anko's mind.

_"Alright… Think of something…"_ she thought to herself. _"Just because you have no idea how to react with a kid doesn't mean that you'll be terrible at it…"_

"Hiya, kid!" Anko said with a smile. A part of her felt like kicking herself for shouting it like that. Naruto simply scooted away from her. His grip on the bear tightened. Anko was starting to wonder just how often those people had beat and cursed him. She smiled as she moved from the chair and looked at Naruto. "My name is Anko. What's your name?" she said.

It was better than that shout she used earlier…

"N-N-Naruto…" the boy replied in a low voice.

"Naruto… That's a nice name." Anko replied.

Naruto gave a faint smile at this. His grip on the stuffed bear lightened a little, and he felt himself scoot just a very light inch closer to Anko. The girl smiled as she saw him scoot closer, but decided to give him a little space for now.

"So, Naruto…" Anko began. "Are you hungry? You look like you would be after sleeping for a long time like that." Naruto gave a slow nod. "Well, what's say we head to the kitchen and get you something to eat, ok?"

She got of the bed and held her hand out for him to take. Reluctant at first, Naruto slowly and carefully reached out and took her hand. A large amount of fear was in his eyes, but inside, he somehow felt safe with her. Still he kept his hopes low. Some of the people in the village were nice to him until they led him into an alley or something to that extent to beat him up or something. He climbed off the bed and slowly walked with her to the kitchen. He kept his bear close by him, still using it as a safety line should this turn ugly.

"Alright, Naruto-kun." Anko said with a smile as they reached the kitchen. "What would you like to eat?" Naruto looked down at the ground for a minute, and another small smile appeared on the child's face.

"Do… Do you have any ramen?" he asked.

"Let me see." Anko said as she opened up one of the cabinets and pulled a small cup out. "Well, yes I do."

Naruto's small smile grew a little wider at this. Anko chuckled to herself about the small boy's reaction. She took him to a small table and sat him down, putting his bear in the chair beside him, as if it was going to eat as well. She then prepared the ramen cup, and sat it down at the table. Next she walked over to the refrigerator.

"Let's see…" Anko said aloud. "I doubt he'd like sake very much… Hmm… Ah, here we go. Every kid likes milk!"

She reached into the cabinet again and pulled out a small cup. After pouring the milk into the cup, she walked it over to him and sat down beside him. Naruto was quickly eating the ramen, as if he had never had a meal before in his life, or he never planned to have another meal. Anko sighed when she realized that he probably missed a lot of meals, and he ate like this to make sure he would have his fill before going hungry again. She slowly put her hand in his hair and patted his head. Naruto jumped at the touch, afraid that he had done something wrong. Anko saw this and did her best to calm him down.

"Hey… Easy…" she said. "It's alright… I just thought you'd enjoy the ramen more if you slowed down to taste it. I promise that it's not going anywhere. There's no need to rush…"

Naruto nodded, and slowed down to eat, although still moving at a quickened pace. He must truly enjoy the stuff. Anko made a note to herself to buy some ramen and milk when she went shopping tomorrow. There was a comfortable silence between the two. Naruto finished his ramen and then Anko picked him up into her arms.

"Hmm… I think someone needs a bath…" she said to herself. She pinched her nose for emphasis. "I bet I could right my name in the dirt that's on your face."

Naruto giggled at this quietly, imagining the woman writing her name on his face by using her finger. Anko carried him to the small bathroom, and filled the tub a little bit. She then undressed Naruto and sat him inside of the tub. It took her about 20 minutes, but after a while she finished scrubbing the dirt off of his body. From there, she moved on to his hair. It was a tangled mess, but she had to clean it. Naruto's face winced a little as she scrubbed through the dirt in his hair. However, as she cleaned, Anko noticed a shine that it had to it. It was soft too. It felt almost as if she could lay on it and sleep, which it was quite possible. She pulled Naruto out of the tub and brushed his hair, just to find out that it extended just past his shoulders. The bangs were so long that they covered one of his eyes.

"Hmm… I have an idea." she said.

Anko picked him up with the towel wrapped around him and took him back to the bedroom. She took one of the kunai from her coat pocket, and slowly lifted the hair that covered his eye. Naruto was a little scared at this. Was she going to gouge his eye out? Was she going to attack him like the villagers did? He closed his eyes and prepared for the worst, only to hear a light slice. He opened his eyes and saw a small pile of hair form at his feet. Anko smiled.

"It'd be a shame to cover those eyes of yours." Anko said. "Now, let's get you some clothes on. I don't need to see you running around naked."

Naruto happily took her hand and they walked over to her dresser. She reached in and pulled out a long shirt. She then watched as he put it on, nearly disappearing from its massive size. She then reached into her top drawer and pulled out a small hair band, one like she used in her hair, and pulled Naruto's up into a pony tail, so it wouldn't get tangled while he slept. She sat Naruto on the bed, and excused herself to the bathroom, assuring him that she'd be right back. A few moments later, she returned wearing a long shirt similar to Naruto's and was carrying his small teddy bear. He took it from her happily and snuggled under the sheets to the bed. Anko then climbed in with him. He had a small grin on his face, one that was real instead of the grins he had earlier.

"Hey, Naruto?" Anko asked as she turned off the lights.

"What?" Naruto replied, still in a soft spoken voice.

"How would you like it if we spent tomorrow with each other? I'll buy ya some clothes, toys, and maybe even some ninja supplies." Anko asked.

She smiled at the prospect of raising a kid with a love of weaponry like her

"What's a ninja?" Naruto asked.

"Well, a ninja is a person who protects people. They fight to aid those in need, protect the village, and go on missions to various places, seeing the world as they do." Anko said.

"That sounds cool…" Naruto said with a yawn. "I wanna do that too." "I wanna be the greatest… Ninja… Ever…"

Anko smiled and kissed the now sleeping Naruto on the forehead. She put her arms around him, and held him tight. There was no doubt about it in her head. She would raise and nurture this child just like he was should be. The two slept through the night with waking up once. A smile was present on both of their faces. As nice as it was, night faded into day, and it was time to take Naruto into the village. Anko awoke early that morning, and went into the kitchen. She made a cup of coffee, and then sat down at the table, making a list of things she'd need for Naruto.

"Let's see… What things does the squirt need…" she said to herself. "Toys, clothes, a few books, some other things like food and milk. As much as I can't stand to say it, I doubt the runt could live on just dango and sake like me." She heard a loud yawn in the hallway and saw little Naruto walk into the kitchen. He still drug his teddy bear behind him. "Hey, squirt!" she shouted. "Sleep good?"

"Yup!" Naruto shouted. He pumped his fist into the air for emphasis, and then climbed into the chair beside Anko. "What'cha doin' Anko-sama?"

"Just Anko is fine." she said patting him on the head. "Anko-sama makes me sound old. Now, to answer your question, I'm writing down some stuff we're going to get you today."

"Really?" Naruto asked. A glint in his eyes was apparent as he thought of the prospect of actually owning things other than his teddy bear.

"Yep!" Anko replied with a wide grin. "Tell me, what things you like to eat, Naruto."

"I like miso ramen! Ooh, and beef ramen! Pork ramen, and chicken too!" he shouted.

Anko laughed at the thought. He was almost addicted to the stuff as she was to dango. Naruto smiled happily as Anko wrote down some of the different kinds of ramen he mentioned. They then hopped down from the table. Naruto sat in the bedroom playing with his bear, while the girl freshened up in the bathroom. After a small amount of time, she emerged wearing her normal attire: a fishnet bodysuit, khaki mini-skirt, and long brown trench coat. She tied her hitai-ate around her head and scooped Naruto up in her arms.

"Ready to hit the town, squirt?" she asked.

"Yep!" he shouted. "Let's go, Anko-chan!"

She leapt her way through the forest, until the duo reached Konoha. It was still early, so there weren't many people walking the street. If there was they weren't paying attention to the boy. Knowing that Anko would kill them should they try to do something was enough to keep them at bay. They quickly made their way to the shopping district. The first thing they decided to do was to buy the boy some clothes. Right now, he was still wearing the long shirt he got from Anko last night.

"Tell me Naruto…" Anko said as they walked into the clothing store. "What kind of clothes did you wear at the orphanage?"

"I had a bright orange jumpsuit." he said as Anko put him down and took him by the hand. "Just like the other kids, I washed it every month."

"Naruto-kun… Didn't you have any other clothes." she asked.

"Nope, just the one…" he replied.

_"If they only gave him one outfit, they should've let him wash it more than once a month…"_ she thought.

Naruto noticed the frown on her face.

"Is something wrong, Anko-chan?" he asked.

She snapped out of her anger and smiled at the boy.

"Everything is just fine, Naruto." Anko said with a smile. "Now let's get you some style!"

They walked around the store looking at various things. After many trial and errors, they picked 8 pairs of baggy black pants, 6 sleeveless black shirts, a pair of black boots, and much to Naruto's begging and happiness, a long black coat like Anko's. Next stop was the bookstore. Anko picked out a few kiddy books for Naruto, that had a few fairy tales in them, plus a book on parenting, since she was knew to the whole thing. However, after reading the first page of the book, she tossed it back to the rack. She didn't need some book telling her how to raise a kid. As she was paying for the books, a Jounin with silver hair entered the store. He immediately recognized the two. Anko simply waved to him as she saw him move to the corner of the adult section of the store.

"Who was that?" Naruto asked. "You looked mad, was he a bad person?"

"No… That was… Ero-Kakashi…" Anko said as a smile worked it's way to her face. "You make sure to call him that everyday, ok?"

"Ok, Anko-chan." Naruto said with a smile.

They went to the toy shop next. Anko bought Naruto a stuffed fox, several toy soldiers, and a large ball. It was about noon at that point, so she stopped to get the two some dango while they were on that side of town. Naruto had never had it before. His little hands picked up a stick, and he sniffed it like a little fox would. He then slowly took a nibble of it in his mouth and smile happily. The two cleared three full plates in no time. Anko returned to the tower to drop off the things they had bought so far. Naruto played happily in the floor where a fighting ring of sorts was located. He was having his teddy bear and fox have a fight against the soldiers. Anko looked over at him from the balcony above and leapt over it, into the ring.

"Having fun, champ?" she asked.

"Yep!" Naruto replied.

"We need to go run some more errands, ok?" she asked.

"Ok!" Naruto replied.

She picked up and tossed him into the air. Naruto giggled happily as she caught him in her arms and hugged him tight. She then put him on her shoulders and made her way back to town. It was about 4:00 P.M., so Anko made her way to the Hokage's tower. She walked through the entrance, and smiled as she passed Kurenai in the hallway.

"Hello, Anko." she said with a smile. "Hello, Naruto. The Hokage has been expecting you."

"What? I'm not in trouble, am I?" he asked.

Naruto's smile began to fade some. Anko hugged the child tightly in her arms.

"Of course you ain't in trouble, squirt!" Anko shouted. Naruto smile returned. "Hey, Kurenai?"

"Yes, what is it Anko?" the Jounin asked.

"I was wondering if you could keep an eye on my squirt here while I talk to the old man." she asked. "You can, awesome!" she shouted before Kurenai could even answer. Anko bent over and kissed Naruto on the cheek. "You wait right there with Auntie Kurenai, and I'll be right back, ok?"

Naruto nodded and turned back to Kurenai as Anko walked into the Hokage's office. The old man was working on the paperwork sitting on his desk. He looked up when he saw Anko come in and smiled.

"Anko… I trust everything has gone well?" he asked.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Anko replied. "Naruto has enjoyed himself, and I did as well."

"Have you made a decision?" he asked.

"Yes sir." Anko replied. "I wish to make the adoption of Naruto Uzumaki official."

"Alright, you may go." he said.

"What?" Anko replied.

"He's your child now." the third replied. "Take him home, and treat him well. I leave Mitarashi Naruto in your care from now on."

Anko smiled and thanked the Hokage. The two walked out of the office and saw Naruto sitting Kurenai's lap, telling her about Anko's and his day. Naruto saw Anko walk out the door and hopped of Kurenai.

"Anko-chan!" he shouted as he hugged her.

"Naruto-kun?" Anko asked.

"Yes?" he asked back.

"The Hokage would like to ask you something." she replied.

The old man walked over to Naruto and patted him on the head. He smiled as Naruto looked up at him with those deep blue eyes. They were no longer filled with only hate, fear, and sadness, but rather a small sign of happiness was in them. He noticed that Anko had the same line too.

"Do you like being with Anko?" the old man asked. Naruto nodded happily. "Do you want to visit her more often?" he asked. Naruto nodded again. "Anko, do you like being with Naruto?" she nodded. "Would you like to visit him more often?" she nodded again. "Well then, Naruto why don't you just live with her?" he asked with a smile.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Naruto… I adopted you today…" Anko replied. She took the boy in her arms and smiled.

"Adopted?" he asked.

"It means, that I'm your new mommy." she answered back.

"I have a mommy now?" he asked.

His eyes growing wider.

"Yes…" Anko replied.

Naruto looked at her for only one moment. He then latched his arms around her and cried happily. Anko did as well. She hugged her son tightly, never wanting to let go. The Hokage smiled, and left the two alone. Kurenai did the same as well. With her son in her arms, Anko returned home. Naruto smiled as he had never been happier before.

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**Next Chapter: Naruto's New Friends**


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**THE STORY OF MITARASHI NARUTO**

**CHAPTER 3: WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?**

Anko awoke and looked at the small child sleeping happily beside her. It was hard to believe that just a few hours ago, she officially made Naruto her child, even so much as changing his last name to hers. While she still had doubts about what she should do now that she was officially responsible for the child, Anko knew that she had to be careful now. Any bad choice could negatively affect the child, while she also had to consider the possibilities of being too soft on him. She let out a slow yawn and decided to go ahead and get up for the day, seeing as how it was seven in the morning anyhow.

"Let's see… What should the little squirt and I do today?" she asked herself, sipping a small amount coffee in her cup. "Hmm… He could use a new playmate… I won't always be able to play with him and such, so it'd be nice for him to have someone his own age to keep him company…"

"What, mommy?" Naruto asked.

Anko turned around as she saw the little boy rubbing his eyes sleepily. She still got goose bumps when ever he called her that. It made her feel happy that her being there was enough to make him happy. She knelt down to his level and kissed his forehead.

"I was just talking to myself, squirt." she said as she ran her hand through her hair. "So did you sleep good?"

"Yup!" Naruto replied with a smile. "Mommy, you make a good pillow!"

Anko almost fell over when she heard that. She felt a strange pressure on her while she was asleep last night, but just shook it off as lying in a weird position. She had no idea that it was Naruto who rolled into her and began to use her for a pillow. She prayed to Kami that he wasn't suddenly going to turn into Kakashi or something.

"Heh… Anyways kid, I was thinking… How about we go visit some friends of mine today?" Anko asked. "They have a little girl about your age; I bet she'd love someone like you to play with."

She noticed that Naruto looked down at the ground and started to move his foot in a circle around the floor. She put her hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes. A small amount of fear was in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Anko asked.

"When I was at my old home with lots of kids…" he began. "None of them would play with me… They would hurt me and stuff… What if she's the same way?"

Anko picked the boy up into her arms and hugged him tightly. He looked at her face and saw the smile that always made him smile back. He returned the hug, but she noticed it was slightly tighter than normal.

"Naruto-kun." she told him with a smile. "I promise that these people will not hurt you. They are my best friends, and if they like me, then they'll love you."

"Really?" he asked.

"Believe it!" she answered.

Naruto giggled as she tickled his stomach some, and then put him down so he could go get ready. She sighed as she watched him run towards the room, following close behind. After helping Naruto get ready, she allowed him to play in the ring room, while she got herself cleaned and dressed. After finishing up, she made her way to Naruto's unofficial playroom, and jumped over the railing of the balcony. Naruto jumped into her arms and hugged her.

"Can I bring Mittens?" he asked.

He pointed down to the stuffed fox that he named Mittens, on account of the colored paws. Anko nodded, and picked up the fox. Naruto held onto it tightly as they jumped through the forest, towards Konoha. They landed in the village and began to head back for the shopping district of the village again. Naruto held her hand tightly as he noticed a few glares coming towards him.

"Relax, squirt." Anko said. "No one's gonna want to try and hurt you with me here."

Naruto felt reassured and lightened his grip some. As they turned the corner, Naruto noticed that they were heading for a small weapon shop. Not that he could read the sign or anything, but the large picture of a katana and several ninja stars told him that it was that kind of shop. Anko opened the door for him and then followed the boy inside. Naruto eyes widened at all the various weapons that aligned the walls and display cases. He had never seen so many things like this before, though he remembered hearing about a few of them from a story Anko read to him last night. Behind the counter, he spotted a man working on polishing a katana.

"We'll be closing for lunch soon, so unless you have business, I ask that you please come back later." the man said.

"Ah, come on, Kenn. Is that anyway to talk to a lady as sexy as me?" Anko shouted with a huge grin.

"What? Oh, it's just you, Anko-san." Kenn replied with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah…" Anko said to herself. "So how's business going?"

"Pretty good." Kenn replied as he placed the katana in a display case behind him. "A little slow, but once the Chunin Exams start back up in a few weeks, things will pick up."

"Good to know." Anko replied.

It was at that moment that Kenn saw Naruto hiding behind Anko's leg. He peaked out from behind it as the man knelt down beside him and smiled. Naruto sheepishly smiled back. The man rubbed his hair and stood up to Anko's level.

"So, who's the little guy?" he asked. "A boyfriend or something?"

"Get real." Anko replied as she picked Naruto up and held him in her arms. "This is my squirt!"

"Your squirt?" Kenn asked. "I don't remember you having a kid."

"That's 'cause I adopted him yesterday." Anko replied with a large grin.

"How I feel for the poor boy…" Kenn replied.

Suddenly, a fist was sent to the back of his head. A slightly small woman looked at him with anger, which then turned to one of happiness as she saw her best friend. Anko walked up and hugged her friend.

"You been doing alright, Cammy?" Anko asked with a smile.

"More or less." Cammy replied. "The little one is getting excited about starting at the academy next week."

"Ah, that's right." Anko replied. "Call the kid; I got someone for her to meet."

Cammy nodded and walked out back. She was gone for about ten minutes, and finally returned with her hands on a small girl's shoulders. The small girl had her hair up in two small buns. Her little brown eyes seemed focused on the small boy in Anko's arms. She wore a simple pink, Chinese-styled jumpsuit. Anko walked over to the girl and smiled.

"Have you been behaving yourself like we talked about?" Anko asked.

"Yes, ma'am!" the girl replied while jumping.

"Good, then as a reward, you get to have a playmate for a while." Anko replied.

"Who is it?" the girl asked.

"Naruto, I'd like you to meet Tenten. Tenten, this is my boy, Naruto." Anko announced. She put the small boy on the ground and Tenten walked towards him, studying him as she walked around.

"You're name is funny, and you have whiskers on your face." Tenten replied. Naruto looked down at the ground in shame. "You look like fun, though!" Naruto smiled when he heard this. "Let's go play outside. We can play ninja!" Tenten shouted.

"How do you play that?" Naruto asked shyly. He held his fox close for comfort.

"I'll show you, silly." Tenten said as she pulled him along. "You can bring your friend too!" she shouted while pointing at the stuffed fox.

Anko smiled as she watched Naruto be led outside by the girl. His cheeks were blushing as he turned for a second to see Anko wave and blow him a kiss. She sighed as she sat on the couch and relaxed for a moment.

"So… How did it happen?" Kenn asked.

"What do you mean?" Anko asked.

"The adoption of Naruto?" Kenn asked. "We all know who he is, and that he was at the orphanage, but how'd you manage to get a hold of him?"

"He was attacked the other night…" Anko said in a low voice. "We know why, but I can't stand it. It sickens me the way people treat him, because of something inside of him, without even stopping to think about how they are really two different beings…"

"So you decided to take action?" Cammy asked. Anko nodded.

"Good." Kenn said with a smile. "The boy deserves someone with a good heart like yours to raise him."

"Thanks." Anko said with a smile. "By the way, I have a favor to ask you."

"Of course." Kenn replied. "Naruto is welcome anytime to come and play with Tenten, and we'd be happy to watch him during a mission for you, should you need to leave."

Anko thanked the two and walked over to the back, looking out the window at Naruto and Tenten playing.

"Do you see him, Naruto?" Tenten asked.

"Yep. He's got a lot of people around him." Naruto replied as his small face peeked out from behind the bushes.

"Naruto…" Tenten replied. "Those aren't just people, they're the bad guys. You need to remember that."

"Sorry…" Naruto replied. "So, how do we save Mittens?"

"We sneak attack." Tenten answered.

"Sneak attack?" Naruto questioned.

"Yup." Tenten said. "That means that we fight them without being seen. Here, take these."

Tenten reached into a small pouch on her belt and pulled out ten shuriken, handing them to Naruto. He looked at them with a question in his eyes, and then back at Tenten. He was confused.

"What do I do with these?" he asked.

"Naruto, you baka…" she said with a giggle. "You through them at the bad guys. Try to hit as many as possible, ok?"

Naruto nodded. Both he and Tenten got on the ground, and crawled closer to the bad guys, which were really just practice dummies. When they stopped crawling Tenten nodded at Naruto, who nodded back. Anko began to watch with sudden interest. They both rose up and threw ten shuriken each towards the dummies. Tenten hit the dummies with all of her shuriken, something that was to be expected since she was the daughter of a weapons expert. Naruto however surprised her. He threw all of his, and managed to hit the dummies with seven of the ten shuriken.

"Anko… That was amazing…" Kenn said as he looked out at Naruto and Tenten celebrating the rescue of Mittens. "Have you been training him or something?"

"No… I mean, I thought about it, but I haven't done anything yet. Hell, the only time I mentioned the idea to him of even becoming a shinobi was the other night, and that was just to help calm him down and such for the first night at the tower." Anko replied.

"Maybe you should." Cammy replied. "He seems to have some natural talent, and he seems to enjoy playing ninja with Tenten as well."

"Hmm… Yeah…" Anko replied.

She let Naruto and Tenten play for about another hour, and then the two went elsewhere. Naruto promising Tenten to play again later in the week. Tenten happily agreed. Anko walked with Naruto's hand in hers, listening to Naruto's story of the ninja game. They stopped by the ramen stand, where they had some lunch, before she took Naruto to the park to play.

"Have fun, squirt." Anko said as she sat on a bench.

Naruto nodded and ran off with Mittens in his arms to play. He was making his way around the park, noticing several kids playing with each other. A small girl with pink hair was playing tag with a little girl with blonde hair. Another boy with a lazy look in his eye was swinging beside another boy who was eating a bag of chips. They all looked happy, but something caught Naruto's eye. Inside the small sandbox, sat a girl with a sad look on her face. She had pale eyes, and short hair, which was a little shorter than Naruto's. She wore a small, brown jacket. Naruto walked up to her and sat beside her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"W-w-what do you mean?" the girl asked as she looked at him.

"You look sad. Mittens said that I should see if you were ok." Naruto replied.

"Oh… I'm ok…" the girl replied.

"No… I know that look." Naruto told her. "You're lonely. So, why don't we play together?"

"Y-y-you'd play with me?" the girl asked.

She began to push her to index fingers together and fidget with them.

"Yep!" Naruto replied as he pumped his fist into the air. "My name is Naruto. Who're you?"

"M-my name… is Hinata." she replied, shyly.

Anko smiled as she saw the two engage in little conversation. The girl stuttering through almost every word. Naruto encouraging her to be more open. She laughed at the sight, as a silver haired Jounin sat beside of her.

"So how are things with the Mitarashis?" Kakashi asked.

"Great until you showed up." Anko replied with a smirk.

"Heh… I can tell Naruto will be interesting once he's been raised by you." Kakashi joked. "Seriously though, how are things going?"

"Good." she replied. "I took Naruto out for the whole day. He's already made two friends it seems."

"Really?" Kakashi asked.

"Yep." Anko replied. "He seems to have taken a shine to Kenn and Cammy's girl, Tenten, and now he seems to be making fast friends with the girl over there."

Kakashi looked over towards the sandbox where Anko pointed. Sure enough, there was Naruto and the girl she mentioned, laughing and carrying on as if they were the best of friends. However there was something interesting about the girl in view.

"Something wrong?" Anko asked.

"Is she…" Kakashi began. He looked closer at the girl beside Naruto. "She is…"

"She is what?" Anko asked.

"She's a Hyuuga." Kakashi said.

"Well, what do you know…" Anko replied. "Looks like Naruto can make friends with anyone if they're willing to accept him as the boy and not as a demon. Be it a family of weapon merchants, or the daughter of one of the most prestigious clans in the village."

"This isn't something to take lightly… I mean, eventually Hinata will enter the academy like the others. While Naruto…" Kakashi began.

"While Naruto what?" Anko said.

She stood up and looked Kakashi dead in the eye.

"Well… Let's just say that the academy may not be the best choice for him in life." Kakashi replied. "Most of the villagers and such already hate and fear him."

"Because of the demon." Anko replied.

"Yes, but they may do so even more if he were to become a ninja." Kakashi replied.

"No, they'll be afraid of the demon, not him." Anko replied. "They'll just blame him for anything that goes wrong."

"You're ok with that?" Kakashi asked.

"He'll be too." Anko replied.

"What do you mean?" Kakashi replied.

"He's a child, but he's strong. He's still willing to make friends, something that's shown by how he's befriended two people in one day, one of them he met on his own." Anko explained. "I think… That being a Genin maybe good for him…"

"Good…" Kakashi answered.

"What do you mean?" Anko asked.

"The Hokage sent me with the mission for you to accept for the next eight years." Kakashi explained. "He wants you train Naruto to be able to enter the academy, and become a Genin."

"If I refuse?" she asked. "I'm not fully sure if I want Naruto to become one."

"If you refuse, I will take Naruto to raise and train on my own." Kakashi asked.

"Heh… You bastards planned this from the start…" Anko replied.

"Kenn and Cammy were in on it too." Kakashi said with a grin. "They planned on you stopping by. The fact that Naruto and Tenten took to each other so well was just a lucky event."

"I really hate you guys sometimes, you know that?" Anko asked with a grin. "Let the Hokage know that I'll begin Naruto's training first thing in the morning." Anko put her hand on his shoulder and looked at Kakashi. "Besides, he'd better a better ninja with my influence than yours."

Meanwhile, Naruto and Hinata had just finished building a sand castle. They were relaxing in the grass by the box. Naruto's fox sat between them.

"Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"Y-yes?" the shy girl responded.

"Do you wanna be my friend?" he asked.

"Y-yes. I do, but y-you have to be mine too, ok?" she asked back.

"Ok." Naruto replied as he sat up.

"Pinky promise?" Hinata asked.

Naruto nodded and placed his pinky in Hinata's. Anko smiled as she walked over to Naruto, who jumped into his mother's arms. He said good-bye to Hinata, promising to be back again another day to play.

"Did you have fun today, squirt?" Anko asked as the two headed home.

"Yep…" Naruto replied with a yawn.

There was a silence as the two returned home. Anko prepared Naruto a light dinner, gave him a bath, and read him a story. She noticed that Naruto was unusually quiet, until she tucked him into bed anyways.

"Mommy?" Naruto asked as Anko brushed his long hair.

"What's up, squirt?" Anko asked.

"What's the academy?" Naruto asked back. "Ten-chan said that she was going to start going there next week, and then Hinata-chan said that she'd be going there too next year."

"The academy is where they begin to train new ninja." she replied. "You remember that story we read last night? The ninja went to school to learn how to be one."

"That's cool." Naruto answered.

Anko thought deep and hard about her conversation with Kakashi she had earlier. She was scared to ask him. What if this just ended up hurting him in the end? Then again, was it worth the risk to lose him about something like this? Anko took a deep breath and began.

"Naruto-kun?" she began. "How would you like to go to the academy too?"

"To learn about becoming a ninja?" Naruto asked. "Just like the one in the story?!" A small excitement in his voice was building. "Would I get to be with Hinata-chan and Ten-chan?"

"Well, Ten-chan would be a year ahead of you, but there's a good chance that Hinata will be with you." Anko explained.

"I wanna do it! I WANNA BE A NINJA!" he shouted. "I'm gonna be the greatest ninja ever, and everyone will want to be my friend because of it!"

Anko smiled at his enthusiasm. He reminded her of herself when she was little. Anko smiled and hugged him tightly as he leapt into her arms.

"Alright, we'll begin your training in the morning." Anko replied. "We're behind your friends so we have a lot to catch up on."

Anko and Naruto climbed into bed and turned out the lights. Anko fell asleep almost instantly, but Naruto lie there, staring at the ceiling. The thoughts of him being a ninja raced through his mind. He pictured himself in place of the ninja in the story they read the other night. He was saving the village, being cheered, and befriended by everyone in the village. Naruto let out a low yawn, and allowed sleep to take over for the night.

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Next Chapter: Ninja In Training!**


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**THE STORY OF MITARASHI NARUTO**

**CHAPTER 4: THE TRAINING BEGINS**

Again, Anko awoke early. She had to admit that she was a slight bit worried for what could happen to Naruto in life. Making a decision like this is one that could change everything for him in an instant. At the same time though, she was excited. Naruto could earn wide acceptance from the village. Maybe even being regarded as a hero. He could also get to interact with other kids his age, allowing him to make even more friends. She quietly got herself ready, and began to get things ready for the two of them to begin training. She took charts and various weaponry to the room below, a.k.a. Naruto's playroom. She then brought various training dummies out and sat them around the ring. Now that that was taken care of, she went upstairs to get her squirt in training. She entered the room and looked at the small boy sleeping. She gently bent down and scooped him up in her arms. From there, it was straight to the ring room below. She smiled. Slowly the sleeping form of Naruto was turned upside down, Anko now holding him by his ankles.

"Oh… Naruto…" she called out dreamily. Naruto opened his eyes slowly. "TIME TO WAKE UP, MAGGOT!!!"

Naruto's eyes suddenly flashed wide open as Anko dropped him. He hit against the ring below him. Grabbing his head, he yelled in pain and looked up with a small amount of anger in his eyes due to his rude awakening.

"What… What is it? What was that for, momma?" Naruto asked. Anko smacked him in the back of the head.

"WRONG! EVERY MORNING, FROM 6:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., WE WILL BE TRAINING FOR YOUR ENTRANCE INTO THE ACADEMY!" Anko screeched. "DURING THIS TIME, YOU WILL NOT REFER TO ME AS A MOM, BUT AS YOUR SENSEI, AND I INTEND TO BE REFERED TO AS SUCH! YOU GOT THAT DOWN, MAGGOT?!"

"Y-yes, Anko-sensei." Naruto replied.

"Good…" she responded. "Now let's start things out with a few trial and errors. First, let's see what kinda chakra you got."

"Chakra?" Naruto asked.

"You know… Like in that story from the other night." Anko replied.

"Oh, I can do that…" Naruto replied.

He stood closing his eyes for a minute, and then began to look like he was concentrating on something intently. Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead, as if he was in a struggle to do this. After about two minutes a very, very faint blue wave came from him. Anko was afraid of this. He lacked a mass amount, and what little bit he could produce, he had trouble getting out.

"Just like I was afraid…" Anko said. "You lack the ability to be able to easily produce chakra."

"What?" Naruto asked. His blue eyes full of question. Anko walked over to a small chart and pointed at the picture.

"Um… Yeah… See the body has something called a chakra network It carries chakra through the body, allowing us to use skills that ninja use, like the ability to make copies, teleport, things like that." Anko answered. "In other words, to become a successful ninja you need to be able to produce more chakra through these. You got it?"

"I think so…" Naruto replied.

"Don't worry, it'll become easier to grasp as we begin to train more. At any rate, let's move on to the next test." Anko said.

Naruto nodded and followed her over to a small case. She bent down and opened the box revealing kunai, shuriken, and throwing stars. Anko noticed Naruto's eyes widen as he saw all of these. She realized that he must be thinking back to playing with Tenten earlier.

"You remember using these yesterday, maggot?" Anko asked. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, Anko-sensei. Ten-chan and I used them when playing ninja." he answered. "Are we going to play too?" Anko once again smacked the back of his head.

"We ain't here to play, maggot." she replied. "We're here to train. Now grab ten of those shuriken. I need to make sure that you didn't just get lucky when you hit the targets yesterday."

Naruto nodded and took ten of the shuriken. He then walked over to face one of the dummies, standing directly across from it. He closed his eyes for a minute and then opened them up.

"On my count…" Anko said. "One… Two… THREE!"

Naruto threw all the shuriken at the dummy. He closed his eyes as he listened to them make their impact. Next he slowly opened his eyes, to see how he had done with this part of the test. Anko was already over at the dummy writing something down on a notepad. She looked back at Naruto.

"Did I do good, Anko-sensei?" he asked.

"Meh…" she said to herself. "You got about six out of ten, maggot. Not as good as yesterday, but you are definitely further along than you are with chakra, or with the shuriken anyways. Grab five of those kunai and try to hit the dummy with them now."

Naruto nodded and walked over to the case. He grabbed five of the said weapon, and then once again returned to his previous spot to resume the test. He once again took a deep breath and threw them towards the dummy. Anko walked towards the dummy, and once again jotted something down in her book.

"Four out of five." she replied. "Not bad for a maggot."

Naruto smiled at his accomplishment, but a stern glare from Anko told him not to be celebrating yet. He quieted down and waited for the woman to instruct him on what came next.

"Alright…" Anko said as she marked something down in her book. "Your skills with weapons are definitely above average for your age. Don't let it go to your head though, maggot. It's still far from perfect. At any rate, let's test your strength."

Anko and Naruto walked out to another dummy. This was suspended by a wire. It swung lightly back and forth as if it was suspended just a while ago. She noticed a small amount of confusion in Naruto's eyes again and sighed. She knew she should be patient, but she was not used to training anyone before.

"This is to see how strong you are." she explained without being asked. "I want to see how strong your taijutsu is."

"Taijutsu?" Naruto asked.

"Fighting skills." Anko replied. "How well you fight using your hands and legs. Depending on how strong your attacks are, we'll know how hard we'll need to train you."

"Ok." Naruto replied.

He walked forward and stood in a stance of sorts. Right away, Anko noted that it was absurd. Should he have been in a real fight right now, he'd have been taken at least six times before his opponent would even need to blink. She made note of this and then watched as he began to strike the dummy. It barely, if even that moved. To make matters worse, Naruto was clearly putting everything he had behind his blows. The sweat that was forming on him. Despite his short comings, the boy was trying, and she knew his lack of skills was not completely his fault. With always being on the run from someone, it would be hard to improve oneself. She decided to take a more relaxed tone.

"Alright, squirt, here's the deal." Anko replied. "You're weapon skills are good, a little more training and you'll be the best one in your class. However, you command of chakra and taijutsu are not so good. You are very weak in both categories."

"Oh… I'm sorry…" Naruto replied looking down.

"Don't sweat it, that's what this test was here to do. To find your strengths and weaknesses and practice to make them stronger." Anko replied. "Now tell me, can you handle the training?"

"Y-yes…" Naruto said, still looking down at the ground.

"What?" Anko asked.

"I said yes…" Naruto replied a little louder this time.

"Speak up, damn it!" Anko shouted.

"I SAID YES!" Naruto screamed. "I WANNA BE A NINJA! I WANNA BE STRONGER! I'LL DO IT!"

"Good… Now go get dressed." Anko replied. "We have a lot of things to do."

Naruto nodded and ran to the bedroom to get dressed. Anko watched as he ran off and began to turn to leave. However before she left, she threw a kunai out at one of the pillars. Suddenly Kakashi jumped out from behind one, narrowly dodging the kunai. He then noticed a small trickle of blood go down his cheek, and suddenly Anko was right behind him, licking the blood from the cut.

"Had enough eavesdropping, pervert?" she asked.

"My apologies." Kakashi said with a smirk. "I hope I didn't offend."

"Alright, so what do you and the old man want now?" Anko replied as she pushed Kakashi away.

"Is it that obvious?" Kakashi asked as he pulled his book out and sat in the middle of the ring.

"So far, Naruto and I only hear from you if the old guy wants something, so what is it?" Anko asked, trying to ignore the fact that he pulled the book out again.

"I'm here to ask how things were during your analysis of Naruto's default skills." Kakashi replied as he turned a page.

"Although I don't see where it's any of your or the old man's damn business…" Anko began. "He has a lot of work to do. His taijutsu and chakra are both weak."

"I see…" Kakashi interrupted.

"HOWEVER!!!" Anko resumed, slightly pissed at him for not letting her finish. "His skills with weapons are above those of normal age level. Enough of the crap though, what's the real reason you came?"

"I wanted to talk about how you're going to teach Naruto." Kakashi replied. "We all know that a majority of the techniques and fighting styles you know are derived from a certain man who specialized in snakes."

"What the hell's your point?" Anko asked. The reference to the ninja referred to by Kakashi was enough to anger the woman. She didn't much care to relive that point in her life, even if it only brought up memories of the past.

"Just a warning." Kakashi said. "Choose how you train the boy lightly. The snake style is a dangerous one… If Naruto's prisoner should happen to awaken, then…"

"Then we'll worry about that when the time comes." Anko replied. "Until then, you and the old man keep your damn noses out of my damn business. Naruto is not his to worry about any more, and I'll train him to fight how I want. Interfere with how I raise my son again, and I'll make it to where you'll never have one."

It was right after this that Naruto appeared on top of the balcony. Anko shot him a smile and turned to leave, but not before kneeing Kakashi in his special area. The Jounin fell down while Anko looked at him with a grin.

"I'd make sure to get that looked at, by the way." she concluded.

She leapt to the balcony and took Naruto in her arms. The two left the tower, leaving Kakashi to collect himself and then head to the hospital. Naruto asked why Anko did that to Kakashi, but she simply assured the boy that they were just sparing.

"What are we doing here?" Naruto asked as they arrived at the training ground areas of the village.

"Laps." Anko replied. "Every day, we will begin your day by running laps around Konoha."

"How many times do I have to run around it?" Naruto asked.

"You know, squirt…." Anko replied. "I don't recall saying. NOW MOVE!"

Anko tossed a kunai at him, causing Naruto to run. Anko took off after him. Anyone who happened to be in the area of the training grounds watched as the two ran. Naruto pushing to go as fast as possible, Anko threatening to use him for target practice and never letting him eat ramen again. If one didn't know any better, it was almost as if they were both crazy. This continued on until Anko ordered him to stop after about the 15th lap around the village.

"How do you feel?" Anko asked. She looked a bit flushed, but Naruto was drenched in sweat.

"My… My… My legs… Sore…" Naruto managed to get out.

"Good. Now get up, it's time to work on your taijutsu." Anko replied. She pointed to a nearby training dummy. "100 leg strikes, using each leg, 100 hundred times each, followed by 100 punches, using both arms, 100 times each. After that, 100 more of both arms and legs, but alternate between each blow. In other words, one strike for left leg, then right leg, then right hand, and then left hand." Naruto looked at her like she was crazy. "I SAID NOW!" she shouted, firing a kunai that nearly grazed his cheek.

Naruto nodded and ran to the dummy. He began to kick it just like she ordered. Anko shouted each number as he kicked. Then he began the punching drills. Anko sitting in front of him, eating a cup of ramen, just to make him mad. The real point was to use the anger to increase the power he was using, thus making the blows stronger. Immediately after that, he moved right on to the final part of the taijutsu exercises. Anko tossed a kunai at him with a sadistic grin every time he started to slow down. Naruto sighed as he fell to the ground after the drills. Sweat was literally pouring off his body.

"Here." Anko said. She handed him a bottle of water. Naruto took several sips and smiled. "Let me see your knuckles, maggot." Anko ordered. Naruto handed her his hands. Anko quickly, yet carefully inspected them. "Hmm… No bleeding." Anko commented. "Alright, get up and do it again."

Naruto was about to argue, but remembered her promise of no ramen forever, and using him for target practice. He rose to his feet and began to punch and kick once again. Anko smiled with pride as she watched him. She had to admit one thing, the kid had determination. Naruto eventually finished his taijutsu training. Anko wrapped his hands to slow the bleeding, knowing the fox would aid in healing.

"What's next, Anko-sensei?" Naruto asked.

Anko smiled and reached into a bag. A large pile of books appeared on the boy's lap, his eyes were as large as plates from the shear number. Anko laughed at his expression. It was too easy not to.

"What are all these books?" Naruto asked.

"Books that you'll need to learn so you can begin to grasp the beginning of the techniques you'll learn with me." Anko replied. "These teach the basics of poison and snakes."

"Poisons? Snakes?" Naruto asked with intense interest. "Can I see?"

"Fine, but I'm only gonna show these once… For now…" Anko replied.

Anko stood up and made several quick hand signs. They went by to fast for Naruto to tell what they were, but as soon as she finished, she shot her hands forward and two large snakes shot out of her jacket sleeves, one snake per sleeve. She smirked as she saw Naruto's amazed face.

"Like that?" Anko asked. Naruto nodded. "You'll love this."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a scroll. Biting her thumb, she quickly flicked the scroll open with the other hand, and ran her bleeding thumb across the scroll. Suddenly a large cloud of smoke puffed through the area, revealing a massive snake. Anko explained that she was just demonstrating something and the snake muttered while vanishing. Anko looked over and laughed as Naruto flipped open one of the books immediately. She knew that training him would be more fun than she thought.

"Slow down, kid…" Anko said as she pulled him onto her lap. "These books won't do you much good on your own, until you learn how to read."

Anko began to read from one of the books while Naruto payed close attention. She finally called the training to a close for the day. The stopped off for some ramen, and then headed for home. After all his training, Naruto felt sore, and she could tell it. Anko laughed as he drug himself into the bed.

"Tired, squirt?" Anko asked.

"Yeah…" Naruto replied.

A low yawn escaped him.

"Then get some rest." Anko replied as she pulled the covers on him. "Because we'll be doing this everyday, for one year." Naruto watched as she walked across the room and pulled out some weights. "Starting next week, I'm going to attach these to your arms and legs. They weigh about ten pounds each." Anko explained. "After the next three weeks, the weight of each one will double, and then after another three weeks, I'll add ten more pounds to each one."

"When will we finish?" Naruto asked.

"Next year." Anko replied. "Now rest up, maggot. We're doing all this again tomorrow."

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NEXT CHAPTER: THROUGH THE YEARS!


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**THE STORY OF MITARASHI NARUTO**

**CHAPTER 5: NINJA ACADEMY, HERE I COME!**

The training was off to a slow start, but after about two months, Naruto was making progress. His strength and stamina have definitely improved as a result of his taijutsu training, coupled with his weights and laps around the village. His chakra was becoming stronger as a result as well, also due to a meditation period he did each night before dinner. Anko watched with intent eyes as her son's strength and power was increasing before her eyes. He was so much different than he was at the start of the training. She snapped out of her thoughts as Naruto finished pummeling another dummy.

"Alright, maggot… Bring it in." Anko called. Naruto nodded and sat before Anko. "You've been training quite a bit. The amount of chakra you now control is good, so I figure it's time you started working on your first jutsu."

"Really?" Naruto asked. "Which one is it? Snakes? Shooting needles?"

"Actually, we need to stick with the basics before I start teaching you special stuff." Anko replied. "It's needed to graduate from the academy, and the earlier you start working on it, then the sooner you'll have a mastery over it."

"Ok…" Naruto said. "So what is it? What jutsu are ya going to teach me?"

"I'm gonna teach ya the Bunshin jutsu." Anko replied. "The graduation to the rank of a Genin has always required that you be able to make a clone of yourself. The clone serves a decoy for dangerous missions and such. It's important that you learn this jutsu, as well as one other we'll work on later."

"So what do I do?" Naruto asked.

"First, you need to think of yourself." Anko replied. "Think about what you feel, what you're wearing, and everything about your body. From your blonde hair, right down to your blue eyes."

"Easy!" Naruto shouted.

Anko punched him in the back of the head.

"Let me finish, before you try it out damn it…" Anko replied. "Now, for the next part, you need to focus on your chakra. This is the tricky part because if you don't focus enough, or use too much and the clone will fail, and as a result, you will too." Naruto nodded, and this time kept his mouth shut to let her continue. "Now the last part you need to learn is hand signs. This part is fairly simple, because there are only three involved." Anko put her hands up close to her and took a breath. "Pay attention. You need to make the following hand signs." Anko began making gestures with her hand. "Rabbit, dog, rabbit, and then…" Anko said.

A dark purple wave emitted from her and suddenly in a cloud of smoke, another Anko stood beside the original. Naruto's eyes were wide as he looked at the clone.

"Wow… She looks just like you!" Naruto shouted.

"Yeah, yeah…" both of the Ankos replied. "Now you try."

Naruto nodded and began to focus. First he focused on himself. His clothes, his eyes, his hair, everything. Next he began focus on his chakra, slowly trying to push it out, not wanting to overdo it. Next he did the signs, rabbit, dog, rabbit, just like she said. The blue chakra began to slowly admit from him and finally a puff of smoke exploded beside Naruto. Anko waited for the smoke to clear, interested to see how her son did. Naruto stood with excitement in his eyes. He knew this clone would be great. The smoke cleared, and both Naruto and Anko saw a pale, sickly Naruto. He was lying on the ground, passed out from exhaustion. Both Anko and Naruto almost fell over.

"What?" Naruto asked. "I did everything you said! What is this?!"

"It's a clone…" Anko responded. "A sickly, horrible clone that I want to kill to put out its misery, but a clone none the less…"

"So what's wrong with it?" he asked.

"Not enough chakra…" Anko replied. "The only problem… was the amount you used…"

"I'll try again, just give me a sec!" Naruto insisted.

_"I don't believe it…"_ Anko thought. _"I expected him to be stronger from the training, but to have these results already… The fact that he almost succeeded on the clone jutsu in one try…This boy will be incredible!"_

"Alright, squirt, give it another shot!" Anko ordered.

Naruto nodded and tried again. Anko continues to teach the boy various jutsus. After he mastered the Bunshin jutsu, they began to work on some more. In a matter of another month, Naruto had the Bunshin jutsu, substitution, and was slowly starting to get the hang of henge. It was during one week that Anko had to run a mission to the Land of Waves, so Kakashi was put in charge of helping the boy with his henge jutsu lessons.

"Alright, Naruto…" Kakashi said while reading his book. "Transformation is the last of three basic jutsus you need for the Genin graduation exam."

"Alright, Ero-Kakashi!" Naruto cheered. "Show me how to do it!"

Kakashi cringed at the add on Anko had told Naruto to use. Every time he watched him for a bit, Naruto called him it. Kakashi also had a score to settle for the kick to the crotch that Anko gave him a while ago as well. Suddenly, an idea went off in his head.

"Actually, there isn't much to tell or show." Kakashi explained. He flipped through his book and found the picture that he wanted to use. "Just make the hand signs rabbit, cat, ox, and ox. While focusing on a picture or object, and then you got it!"

"That's it?" Naruto asked.

"Yes." Kakashi replied with a smirk. "Here use this for a guide."

He showed the picture from his book, revealing a slender blonde woman. She was nude, her hair in pigtails, and oddly enough blue eyes like Naruto. Naruto studied the picture and closed his eyes. Kakashi interjected before he started.

"Remember, Naruto." Kakashi said. "This jutsu is different. The more chakra you use, the more real the transformation looks."

Naruto nodded and went back to focusing. He allowed more chakra to push through. The most he ever used for one jutsu. He was soon devoured in a puff of smoke. When it cleared, the woman in the picture was now standing before Kakashi. He quickly stuffed a tissue in his nose to stop a nose bleed.

"Very good. When your mother returns today, make sure you show her this. In fact, transform into the same woman." Kakashi explained.

Naruto followed Kakashi's orders. When Anko arrived home and told him to show her the transformation jutsu, Naruto turned into the blonde, naked woman from the picture. Anko wasted no time in smacking Naruto in the back of the head, demanding where he learned that. Naruto told her. Anko sent him to bed for the night. Anko left to find Kakashi. Kakashi was admitted to the hospital for a broken arm and injured crotch that he got by mysterious circumstances.

The next few months were spent practicing sparing. Naruto had three kinds of sparing to do. Anko decided that Naruto's two best friends would be able to aid in this part, which would not only make her son happy getting to spend more time with his friends, but aid them in their training and such too. Naruto practiced taijutsu with Hinata every morning, and in the afternoon, he practiced with weaponry skills with Tenten in the afternoon.

"Training with a Hyuuga? How'd you manage that?" Kenn asked while watching one day.

"Hokage's orders." she replied. "Her mother was more than happy to let her help Naruto. Despite the clan's feelings, it's Hianta's mother's wish for her to have a friend as opposed to relentless training." Anko replied.

"Good… Nice to know one of those people have common sense." Kenn replied.

The two watched as Naruto and Hinata practiced. They appeared to be on equal ground. Had Naruto attempted this at the start of his training, he'd have possibly been grounded into dirt by the girl. Hinata was still shy, but she felt more relaxed around Naruto, as if she didn't need to be afraid. After a busy morning of training, Naruto and Hinata said good-bye, and then head for his lunch. After that it was straight to Tenten's house for his weapon styled sparing. Naruto was good at weapons just like always, but being a weapon merchant's daughter gave her the advantage. Naruto enjoyed spending time with Tenten, and would ask her things about the academy, proudly announcing that he would be going there and graduating in the head of his class, with Hinata right behind him. Naruto finished his training with Tenten for the day and was on his way home with Anko, when suddenly a loud, obnoxious voice seemed to scream out from the distance.

"ANKO-CHAN! IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU! I TRUST THAT THE POWER OF YOUTH IS BURNING IN BOTH YOU AND YOUR SON!" he cried.

"That voice…" Anko said. "Why now?"

"What is it mom?" Naruto asked.

"I figured you meet them sooner or later… Might as well get it over with…" Anko sighed.

Slowly she turned around with her hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto eyes widened at the spectacle. Before him stood a man, with massive eye-brows, a neon green jumpsuit, and tacky orange leg warmers. Beside the large man, stood a miniature version of himself.

"Mommy…" Naruto whispered. "Who are these people, why do they have caterpillars on top of their eyes?"

The tall man in green nearly fell over at this. Anko was on the ground laughing wildly. She managed to get back to her feet, holding her sides from laughing so hard. Her face was red from the laughter.

"N…Naruto… This is… This is Maito Gai, and his clone Rock Lee." she introduced.

"So you're Naruto!" Gai shouted. "It is an honor to meet you! Lee, don't be shy! Introduce yourself!"

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted. "MITARASHI NARUTO! IT IS AN HONOR TO MEET YOU! I CAN ALREADY SEE THE FIRE OF YOUTH BURNING WITHIN YOU! I WOULD BE HONORED IF YOU WERE TO SPAR WITH ME!"

"Lee… That was beautiful…" Gai said as a tear ran down his face. Lee looked at Gai. Both of them smiled as a sunset appeared out of nowhere.

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

Anko slipped her hands of Naruto's eyes so he wouldn't have to see the next part of Lee and Gai hugging each other in the sunset. Anko sighed as the display ended and she cleared her throat to get the two's attention. Gai turned around and looked at the two.

"Listen, Gai… If there isn't anything you need, I need to get Naruto home, we still have a lot of training…" Anko began.

"Ah, training for the ninja academy no doubt!" Gai shouted.

"Well, yeah…" Anko began only to be interrupted again.

"I sense a strong power within you, Naruto! Please… Please fight me!" Lee shouted.

"Can I have one more sparing session, mom?" Naruto asked.

He looked at her with his big blue eyes, something that she found almost impossible to turn down.

"Fine…" Anko sighed. "Just one moment…"

Anko walked up to Gai and pulled him away for a minute. She took him away from the others and pushed him up against the wall. She looked at him like a lion about to catch its prey.

"Listen to me, Gai…" she began. "Lee is a lot stronger than Naruto. I won't deny that, but should any major harm come to my kid, then it's going to be you who pays for it, and I'll make sure you never teach another Genin or academy student again, you got it?" She pressed a kunai against Gai for emphasis.

"Of course." Gai said. "I assure Lee will not harm the child."

"Good." Anko replied. "Now, let's get over to training ground 13."

The four made their way to the said area. Naruto and Lee both stood in the middle of a ring of sorts. Gai stood in the middle, while Anko stood off to the side, picking her teeth with a dango stick. Gai announced the rules of the fight. Taijutsu would be the only means of combating. No ninjutsu was to be used. Anko cleared her throat and shot a glance at Gai. The man then added that should either he or Anko say the match was over, then it would be over. The match started, and ended five minutes later. Naruto was no match for Lee, which was expected, seeing as how he was being trained by the best taijutsu masters of the village. Lee was running complete circles around Naruto, slamming his legs and fists into the poor child. Still, Naruto climbed to his feet, and insisted on continuing. It wasn't until Anko had to hold the boy in her arms that he stopped trying to fight Lee. Anko was worried. He didn't just lose to the child, he was devastated. She expected Naruto to call it quits, that he'd want to stop his training. She couldn't have been more wrong.

Naruto shouted out to Lee that he better watch out, because next time he would be the winner. Lee smiled and accepted. Anko smiled. Naruto had made yet another friend. Why she would have preferred it not to be one of the green-clad clones, if it made him happy, that was all that mattered. Naruto continued to train for the remainder of the year. He worked until he had the three basic jutsus mastered. His weapon skills were amazing, and thanks to the now combined efforts of Lee and Hinata, he was quite good at taijutsu. Time sped forward until Naruto reached it. His first day of the Ninja Academy. He felt nervous. His stomach in knots. He had just finished backing his bag for the big day.

"How ya doin', squirt?" Anko asked. Naruto jumped at the sound of her voice and threw a kunai at her immediately. Anko simply caught it between her fingers. "Too slow…" she grinned.

"Crap…" Naruto replied.

After living with the woman for a full year, it would be an understatement to say he picked up a few habits. He was now almost, if not as sadistic as Anko. He loved making big entrances, and began pulling pranks with the aid of Anko. His favorite one involved one they did against Kakashi.

_The man had walked by one day after Naruto and Anko had finished a chakra lesson. Due to Anko's influence, he had begun to hate perverts as well, yet he smiled brightly when he saw Kakashi walk by._

_"Hey, mom." he called. "I got an idea."_

_"Really?" she said as she saw Kakashi. "What's up?"_

_She bent over and whispered in her ear. Anko stood up and laughed to herself. It was such a great idea. She'd have to be crazy not to do it. She agreed and went in to hiding. Naruto moved stealthfully to Kakashi. He had an edge thanks to his training with Anko. Naruto made quickly transformed into the woman shown to him by Kakashi, and to top it off, he used a henge to hide his whisker marks and make his hair brown. Kakashi looked up just in time to see the disguised Naruto. His eyes bugged out, and nearly got a nose bleed, until he remembered it was Naruto…_

_"Naruto… Doing that in public, in the middle of the day no less, is not the best way to do that." Kakashi said._

_"Aww… You recognized me?" Naruto asked as he turned back to normal._

_"I taught you the trick… It's not that hard to figure out…" Kakashi replied as he put his book away._

_"Damn…" Naruto replied. "You got me… Oh, well… I gotta go home an get some rest… I got school tomorrow you know."_

_Kakashi nodded and reached to pull his book back out. However, when he reached into the place he kept the book, he realized it was gone. He looked back at Naruto to see him holding the small orange book. A snake slithered away._

_"Heh… Here you go, mom!" Naruto shouted._

_Kakashi's eyes widened as his precious book flew into the air, and Anko shot fire out of her mouth. The book was turned to dust before his very eyes. He fell to his knees. Severe anger raging in his eyes. Suddenly, Naruto tossed him a book that slapped him in the face. His eyes got even wider._

_"Geez, Kakashi…" Naruto replied with a grin. "Don't freak out so bad…"_

_Naruto and Anko almost died laughing when they got home, promising to pull that again one day._

"So you all ready for your day?" Anko asked.

"I guess…" Naruto replied as he put his bag in the corner of his room.

After begging the Hokage, a new room was built into the tower to separate Anko and Naruto giving them each a bedroom.

"Really, then what's wrong?" Anko asked. "You're my kid. I know when something's bugging you."

"It's just… I wanna make a big entrance! Something that'll let 'em all know that I'm not your average ninja in training…" Naruto replied.

"Trust me kid." Anko replied. "I have just the thing for you to do."

Naruto looked at his mom with question, but listened to what she had to say. As she explained it, the grin on his face grew wider, and wider. Soon the day came. A man by the name of Umino Iruka, was walking through the hall to his class room. He had a small class, probably his smallest class ever, only having about nine students.

He entered the classroom. Noise and laughing and such were blasting through the room. He always hated the first year with a new class. He had to memorize a bunch of new names, figure out what made each of them tick, and how to get each one under his control. He sighed as he walked to the front of the room and slammed his books on the table. The noise was so loud that everyone in the room looked like the crapped themselves upon hearing the noise.

"Now that have your undivided attention… We may begin." he said to the class. "My name is Umino Iruka. You will address me as Iruka-sensei, and not by anything else. I want to make one thing clear to you all. This is not a babysitting service. I have people in this class that want to learn, and as such I will remove you from the class if you appear to be holding the rest back." The class all nodded in agreement. "Now that that's all out of the way, let's take roll." He pulled out a sheet of paper from a note book. "Let's see here…"

"Inuzuka Kiba!"

"Here!" called a loud kid.

"Akimichi Chouji!"

"Yo!" a large boy called with his mouth full.

"Haruno Sakura!"

"Present!" called a pink haired girl, who was glaring at another girl with blonde hair.

"Yamanaka Ino!"

"Here!" the blonde girl shouted, returning her glare back to Sakura.

"Uchiha Sasuke!"

"Hm." the black haired boy replied. Sakura and Ino both drooled over him.

"Nara Shikamaru!"

"How troublesome…" the lazy eyed boy replied.

"Hyuuga Hinata!"

"Here…" Hinata replied. She was looking around, wondering where Naruto was.

"Aburame Shino!"

A boy with sunglasses simply raised his hand.

"Mitarashi Naruto!"

Silence. No one was answering. Hinata was beginning to get nervous. Did Naruto change his mind? Did he decide not to join the academy after all? No, that wasn't Naruto's style. She was sure he would come.

"Naruto?!" Iruka called out again. "Naruto Mitarashi are you here?!" Again, no one answered. "Mitarashi Naruto going once! Twice! Three tim…"

Iruka froze. He looked at the window just in time to see a giant black mass blast through the glass. The students all rose to their feets as somebody just broke through a window. Hinata immediately put her head on her desk.

_"Please… Not like this…"_ she thought to herself.

It was to good to be true though. The person stood up, resembling a boy with blonde hair, which hung in a pony tail. He wore a large, black trench coat, a fishnet shirt, black baggy pants, and a pair of black combat boots. Suddenly a large flyer flew out behind him. In huge red letters, it read: **"MITARASHI NARUTO, FUTURE GENIN!"**

"Heh… Not bad, huh Hinata?" Naruto shouted.

Every eye in the class turned and glanced at Hinata, who was sitting in the back. Her face was a blood red. She put her head even further down on the desk. She was cursing Naruto under breath. One day and she was already pegged out as the freak who jumped through a window to show off. Iruka walked up behind Naruto and smiled.

"Mitarashi Naruto?" Iruka asked.

"Yup! That's me!" Naruto shouted.

"Good…" Iruka replied. He then smashed his fist into the back of Naruto's head. "GET IN A SEAT AND SIT DOWN!"

Naruto laughed and shrugged his shoulders. He made his way to the back of the room with a grin. He made sure everyone would know who he was. He was so happy, that he failed to notice every giving him glares. He was already the one in the mind of the students who decided to piss the teacher off in the first day. Hinata was praying that she wouldn't have to pay for her best friend's fun. Iruka sat mumbling under his breath as he pulled out another sheet. Trying to find who was the parent or guardian of his new "favorite" student. He finally matched them up, and almost turned ghost white.

_"Anko…"_ he thought. _"I thought he looked familiar…This is going to be one interesting seven years, especially with a kid being raised by that psycho… It's bad enough that I have the damn fox demon, but now he's being raised by that woman too! What did I do to deserve this…"_

"Alright…" he said with a sigh. "Let's get started…"

Meanwhile, Anko and Kurenai were sitting at a dango restaurant, enjoying a late breakfast. Anko was telling her exactly how she set up Naruto to greet his new class. The grin never left her face during the whole thing.

"You really had him do that?" Kurenai asked.

"Of course!" Anko replied. "He wanted to make a big entrance, all I did was push him in the right direction."

"Iruka will kill you later…" the Jounin replied.

Both girls looked right at each other and nearly fell in the floor laughing. Iruka was smart, but his skills were lacking, one reason that he never made it past the Chuunin level. At any rate, there was nothing to do, but kill time until the school day was over. They finished their meal and began to walk from the restaurant.

"I really wonder how Iruka will take Naruto as a student?" Kurenai asked.

"Who knows?" Anko said throwing a dango stick into the trash. "Why don't you ask Naruto when he graduates? Maybe he'll end up on your team."

"Don't even joke like that…" Kurenai replied. "That's all I need is a mini-you on my team…"

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**NEXT CHAPTER: GRADUATION AND PLACEMENTS!**


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**THE STORY OF MITARASHI NARUTO**

**CHAPTER 6: GRADUATION IS A DEADLY THING**

Naruto was now nine, and it was his third year at the academy. No one in the academy knew quite what to think about Naruto. Sasuke thought he as an annoying, talent less, loser. Kiba thought the same. Ino and Sakura both hated him because he didn't worship the ground Sasuke walked on. Shino didn't care much one way or the other, as was the same with Shikamaru and Chouji. Iruka thought he was just like Anko, and cried for the future when two of her running around. Of course, Hinata was his best friend, so she had to like him. Naruto didn't really take much at the class or school seriously over the years. Most of the things Iruka taught, Naruto already knew from training with his mom. As a result, Naruto would often let his mind wander or fall asleep in the class, and his basic grades showed this. However, when it came time for tests, Naruto was one of, if not the best, except for when it came to clone jutsu tests. It was then that Naruto decided that clone jutsu was his worst area, and he tried to avoid it when ever possible.

Everyday after class, he and Hinata would meet up with Lee and Tenten over at Training Ground 13, where they would just waste time talking, maybe doing some light training, things like that. Afterwards, Naruto would head home for his next lesson with Anko. She had finally decided that he was ready to learn special jutsu, and as a result, the training that night took them into the middle of the forest.

"What are we doing out here?" he asked.

"I think you're about ready to start learning some of those snake jutsus and stuff I showed ya when you were little." Anko answered. "There's only one thing we need to work on before that."

"So you gonna leave me in the dark, or tell me?" he asked.

Anko punched him in the back of the head, knowing full and well that he got his smartass-ness from her.

"We're gonna work on chakra control." Anko answered. "You spend way to much doing the basic jutsus still, and if you wanna learn any of these, then you need to be able cut back drastically."

"Whatever… So how do we do that?" Naruto asked.

"Climb trees." Anko replied.

"I gain chakra control by climbing a damn tree?" Naruto asked. "What's after that? Learn how to do fire jutsu by painting a fence?" Anko frowned and tossed a kunai aimed right in between his eyes. Naruto simply caught it between his fingers and grinned. "You taught me too good." he said.

"Anyways, the point of this is to climb the tree without using your hands." Anko answered. "Before you open that damn mouth let me show you what I mean."

Anko took a deep breath. Naruto watched as chakra began to flow around her feet, and then suddenly ran up the tree all the way to the top. Naruto eyes widened as she stopped at a branch, walked out to it, and then flipped over the side, looking at him upside down.

"Not bad, huh?" Anko asked with a wink. "All you need to do is focus chakra in your feet and run towards the tree, but it's gotta be the right amount, or else…"

"This'll be easy!" Naruto shouted.

He ran straight to the tree and took one step on it before flipping upside down and falling to the ground. Anko nearly fell of off the tree while laughing at this. She jumped to the ground and walked over to the boy with a huge grin.

"Not enough chakra…" she said in a sing-song voice.

"I'll show you not enough…" Naruto mumbled.

He picked himself off the ground and ran back to his starting place. Taking a deep breath, he ran back towards the tree. This time he made it up the tree about two feet, before his foot pushed into the tree, causing him to fall back to the ground. Anko sighed and bent down to where he landed on the ground.

"Damn it…" Naruto said. "I almost had it!"

"Actually, you used to much." Anko replied. "At any rate, I can only give you the advice to readjust your chakra output and try it again." She reached into her pocket and tossed a kunai at him that just missed hitting him. "I'm gonna go grab some dango and then call it a night. Meanwhile, you keep at it and use that kunai to mark how far you get. Oh, and you have to use your feet only for climbing, 'cause my friend there is going to watch you to make sure you do it right." Naruto looked over and saw a snake sitting on a tree stump. "Later, squirt!" Anko shouted before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Naruto sighed and picked up the kunai to continue his lesson, now under the watchful eye of one of Anko's snakes. He kept trying and falling. It kept on like this for the rest of the night. Anko checked back in at one point to see that Naruto had made it about 20 feet up the tree. Anko suggested him resting for the night, but Naruto refused saying he would have this mastered by the morning. Anko shrugged and walked into the tower, leaving Naruto on his own. It was pretty nice having the tower to herself for one night. She enjoyed a full bottle of sake, followed by passing out on the couch. She walked out the next morning discovering that Naruto was no where to be seen. Suddenly a kunai flew right by her face, gracing the side of her cheek. She looked up and saw Naruto smiling standing upside down on the branch she stood the previous night.

"Nice job, Squirt…" Anko said to him. "Now get down here and I'll teach you one of my jutsus!"

Naruto hopped down and ran to Anko. She showed him the hand symbols, and then shot her arms out, shooting out five snakes from her sleeves. Naruto repeated what she did and shot his arms out. He managed to send two snakes out, which was enough to make him happy. He realized that he was going to be late and ran towards the academy. Anko sighed as she looked up at the tree, and then headed to town for some breakfast. She would later hear talk about how two snakes crawled into Ino's dress in class that day. Soon, the final day of the class came. Naruto, due to his pranks and laziness in the class secured himself a nice cozy place as the last in the class. In order to graduate, the class needed to successfully make two bunshin of themselves.

"Alright everyone." Iruka said to the class. "In order to graduate you must make TWO SUCCESSFUL bushin. That being said, let's get… Wait… Where is…"

Before he could even finish Naruto jumped through the window that he done so many times before. Iruka regretted the fact that he was Anko's kid. He sighed and had Naruto take his place in the back of the line. One by one, the class would come down to perform the test. Hinata took her place in the back with Naruto.

"You had to be late again?" she asked.

"Come on, it's not like that bad." Naruto replied. "Besides, I won't get to do this thing again… Also, I feel like it's my duty to be…"

"A complete dobe…" Sasuke muttered.

"Shut up, asshole…" Naruto replied.

Naruto and Sasuke hated each other… No, that was an understatement. They wanted to kill each other. Sasuke enjoyed rubbing Naruto being last in the class, even if he did that on purpose. Hinata smiled when Iruka called Sasuke down to take his test, there by avoiding another fight from breaking out between the two.

"Why do you let him get to you so bad, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Because he bugs me…" Naruto replied. "He's had his whole life handed to him, just because of the status his family had…"

"Naruto…" Hinata began.

"Hinata, would you please come down here and take your test today?" Iruka called out.

Hinata apologized and walked down to the front of the class. Naruto leaned up against the wall and sighed. He looked over to see Sasuke glaring at him while showing off his new forehead protector. Naruto rolled his eyes, only to be hit in the back of the head by Sakura and Ino.

"What? You think you're so good?" Sakura asked. "Quit picking fights with Sasuke-kun, he's way smarter, stronger, and better than you'll ever be."

"Yeah, dobe!" Ino replied. "Why don't you quit wasting everyone's time and get out of here so the people who matter can go finish…"

Iruka's assistant, Mizuki, happened to see the display that Naruto was given. An idea was forming in his head. He smiled and stood up.

"Iruka, it's past lunch time, why don't we take a break here, and come back in about an hour to finish up. Sakura, Chouji, Ino, and Naruto still need to take their tests anyways. Being hungry may distract them." he asked Iruka.

"Sounds good, Mizuki-san." Iruka replied. "Alright, we have an hour for lunch, then you all come back so we can finish the test, and Naruto, be on time and use the door!"

"Whatever…" Naruto mumbled.

He headed for the door with Hinata, when Mizuki put his hands on his shoulder and stopped him.

"I heard the way Ino and the others talked about Naruto." Mizuki said. "You know it isn't fair, almost as if they never gave you chance before they started hating you."

"It's ok, Mizuki-sensei." Naruto replied with a smile. "I'm used to it."

"Well, I'm not." Mizuki replied. "Let me make it up to you, by taking you out for ramen? What do you say?"

"I say why didn't you ask sooner!" Naruto shouted. "Let's go Hinata-chan!"

Hinata didn't even have time to agree before Naruto was pulling her along. The three of them reached the ramen stand, ordering miso ramen for Hinata, beef ramen for Naruto, and shrimp ramen for Mizuki. They sat and made small talk while waiting for the ramen. Finally it came, Naruto and Hinata both reached for the chopsticks, and Mizuki smirked as he dropped something into Naruto's bowl. Neither Hinata or Naruto noticed this though, and the three quickly ate the ramen and made their way back to the academy. The tests resumed, and after finishing up with the others, Iruka finally called Naruto to the front. Naruto felt woozy as he got to his feet. He shook it off as being slightly nervous about the test, and hurried to the front.

"Alright, Naruto…" Iruka said with a sigh. "Hurry up and make two bushin…"

"That's it?" Naruto replied. "Damn, kaa-san is right, you are a push over…"

"Just shut up and do it…" Iruka said rolling his eyes. Naruto nodded, noticing that the woozy feeling was back again. "Naruto… Something wrong?"

Hinata sat up in her seat as she noticed Naruto acting funny.

"No… Sorry. Alright, two bushin coming up!" Naruto shouted.

Naruto focused and performed the desired jutsu. Disappointment arose. Standing beside Naruto was one of those failed clones, like he made back when Anko started training him. He felt a knot in his stomach, he heard them all, minus Hinata laughing behind him. Hinata was speechless. Naruto had this jutsu down, there's no way he should've messed up.

"I can't believe this… Naruto you fail." Iruka muttered.

"Come now, Iruka-san." Mizuki pleaded. "He did manage to make at least one. Can't you let him pass with that?"

"Did you even feel the need to ask me that?" Iruka replied. "Why should I reward him for barely trying in class? If he would have taken it seriously he would have passed."

Naruto wasted no time. He didn't want to hear the jeers coming from all the class. He didn't want to hear Iruka telling them to be back at the class at ten tomorrow to meet their Jounin instructors. He didn't even want to wait for Hinata. Naruto ran straight out of the school, straight to the swing in the back of the academy schoolyard. He watched as all the parents celebrated with their children about passing. Anko was on a mission today so she wouldn't be back until late tonight. Naruto sighed as he was about to head home, when he saw Mizuki in front of him.

"Naruto-kun… I'm sorry." Mizuki said.

"Ah… Don't worry about it…" Naruto said. He flashed a smile, but Mizuki could tell it was fake. "I just don't know Mizuki-sensei. I thought I had everything on top, but… It seems like no matter what I do, there's always gonna be something in my way…"

"Naruto… What if I knew of a way, that you could pass the Genin exam for sure next time. Not only that, but it has techniques that would make anyone respect you." Mizuki replied.

"What… What is it?" Naruto replied.

Mizuki smiled. He bent down and whispered. Naruto started grinning he couldn't believe that something like that was in the village. He nodded, and agreed to meet Mizuki in the woods near the tower at 10:00 P.M. Mizuki walked away from the excited Naruto, face beaming with pride. Night fell in the village. Anko had finally returned from her mission and entered the tower, only to find it quiet.

"Yo, squirt!" she called out. "Get your ass out here! Hmm… guess he ain't here."

A smile crept around her lips. She took off out the door to go find him. After all today was the day he graduated the from the academy, and she wanted to hear all about it. She landed right in front of the Hokage tower, just in time to see several ninja run out. She made her way to the old man's room, to see what was going on.

"Hokage-sama… What's with all the ANBU?" Anko asked.

The third simply raised his eyes at her.

"It's Naruto…" he replied.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest. Naruto sat breathing heavily, with deep wounds all over his body. Mizuki stood across from him, smirking at the boy's pain. He had just revealed the worst secret to Naruto. Naruto was the demon that almost destroyed all of Konoha. He fed him the reasons while he deserved to be hated, why he needed to die, why the world would be better off without him. To make matters worse, the child believed it.

"Now do you see?" Mizuki said as he looked at Naruto with more hate than the boy had ever seen. "Die… Die like they all want you to."

"No… You're lying… Hinata… Mom… Lee… Tenten…" Naruto staggered to his feet.

"If they care about you where are they now, demon?" Mizuki asked.

"The kids are looking for Naruto as we speak." Anko shouted as she jumped glared at Mizuki. "I'm here to protect the most important thing in my life from a teme like you."

"Mitarashi Anko…" Mizuki said looking her over. "Give me a minute to finish of the first demon, and then I'll take care of you."

Anko sent several snakes towards the traitor, but Mizuki simply jumped over them, and launched a massive shuriken at Naruto. Anko reacted the only way she could. A scream echoed out into the area. Naruto looked up to see Anko over top of him, a large shuriken sticking out of her back.

"You alright, squirt?" Anko managed to ask.

Before she could even get an answer, Mizuki kicked her to the ground.

"Maybe, I'll finish you first…" Mizuki replied.

Naruto's eyes widened as he watched Mizuki pick her up by her hair, and hold a kunai to her throat. He felt anger. A presence of a different energy flowing within him. Naruto rose to his feet, growling.

"Get the fuck away from here…" he growled.

Mizuki's eyes widened. Naruto's eyes were now red with black slits. Mizuki smiled.

"What are you going to do, demon?" Mizuki asked.

Naruto said nothing. He performed several hand signs, and suddenly, 100 Narutos appeared behind him. All 100 ran forward, and before Mizuki could even scream, he began to literally be ripped apart. Anko quickly rose to her feet and grabbed the real Naruto, before he could go any further. Iruka and some ANBU arrived at the scene. Mizuki lay clinging to life. Anko, though wounded, held the angered Naruto, stroking his hair while hugging him, slowly calming him down.

"What happened?" Iruka asked.

"Mizuki tricked him." Anko replied. "Mizuki is the traitor, caught by Naruto, who saved my life as well, using the Kage Bushin." Iruka nodded and he bent down to Naruto's eye level.

"I apologize for everything." he said. "You arose with the true essence of a ninja, ready to put your life on the line to protect those who mean the most to you."

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"I want you to have this." he said. Iruka reached in his pocket and pulled out a small headband.

"What's this?" Naruto asked.

"A forehead protector." Iruka replied. "You showed that you are ready to be a ninja after all. I apologize for everything Naruto. Be at the school tomorrow at 9:00 A.M., to officially begin your career as a Genin."

"HAI!" Naruto replied. He tied his protector around his head, and despite his cool act he was trying to put on, he began to dance happily. "I'M A NINJA! I'M A NINJA!" he shouted to his mother. Anko smiled at the boy's happiness, but at the same time, a thought ran through her mind.

_"Does he not even remember what happened?"_ she thought.

Anko and Naruto returned home for the evening, but not before running into Lee, Hinata, and Tenten to enjoy some ramen as a celebration. Meanwhile, the three Jounin chosen to lead the new graduates arrived at the Hokage's tower.

"Glad that you all made it on time." the Hokage said. "Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma, please be seated." All three sat in the chairs in the office. "I trust you have all three gone over the information in the folders on the eight graduates?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Kurenai replied. "However, it will be difficult to lead a team of only two genin." Suddenly, Iruka ran into the room. The sudden arrival of him surprised the others, but he apologized and walked to the Hokage.

"Iruka-san, what are you doing here?" the Hokage asked.

"I apologize for coming during this meeting, but I have to deliver this to Kakashi and the others." Iruka replied. He handed them all a piece of paper, as well as one to the Hokage.

"This Mitarashi Naruto…" Asuma replied looking at the paper. "I was informed that he did not pass the Genin exam."

"Naruto passed." Iruka explained. "He took his test late, during the Mizuki and forbidden scroll incident. Not only was able to save the scroll and Anko-san, but he mastered the Kage Bushin Jutsu."

"That is a Jounin level technique…" Kakashi replied.

"Indeed, but I witnessed the whole event." the Hokage replied, pointing to his crystal ball. "I approve of Naruto's graduation. If any have any reason as to why he should not graduate, then feel free to talk to me after this meeting. Iruka, you may leave." Iruka bowed and left the room. "Now then, let us begin. Kakashi, since you have held the Jounnin level the longest, you may make the first pick of who you want on your team."

"I will take Uchiha Sasuke as my first choice." Kakashi replied.

"Very well." Hokage replied. "Asuma?"

"I will pick Nara Shikamaru as my first Genin." Asuma answered.

"Kurenai?" the Hokage called.

"I will pick Hyuuga Hinata as my first choice." Kurenai replied.

"Very well, now who will be your second choice, Kakashi?" the Hokage asked.

"Inuzuka Kiba." Kakashi replied.

"Akamichi Chouji." Asuma answered without being called.

"Mitarashi Naruto." Kurenai suddenly said.

"Aren't you supposed to save the bottom of the barrel for last?" Asuma asked with a smile. "Especially considering…"

"Considering something he had no choice over, and was almost killed because of several times in his life?" Kurenai replied. "We all know that he is a child, not the demon. Just like his mother is nothing more than a person, not a monster. I'm tired of them both suffering for things that have happened, no matter how hard they try to over come it."

"Very well." the Hokage replied smiling. "Kakashi?"

"I will take Yamanaka Ino as my final student." he answered.

"I will take Haruno Sakura" Asuma stated.

"Which leaves Kurenai to take Aburame Shino as her last student." the Hokage replied. "Now, I will go over some minor things, just in case anyone has forgotten. In order for the Genin to be officially taught by you, a test must be passed showing that the team you have chosen is capable of working together. If one of them should fail, the whole team must be returned to the academy, until a new Genin is capable of taking the member's place. After you finish your test, and if they should pass, return the day after the test to begin running your D-rank missions. Now, you are all dismissed, however, Kurenai, please remain here for a moment." Kakashi and Asuma bowed and left the room.

"What is it, Hokage-sama?" Kurenai asked.

"I'm sure you know, Naruto is the container for demon fox." the Hokage began. Kurenai nodded. "Now, as you know, this information MUST REMAIN A SECRET. It could be a disaster should his team find out at the start, while I doubt Hinata would care, we can't predict how Shino, much less the rest of the Genin would react."

"I understand, Hokage-sama." Kurenai bowed. "It shall remain a secret."

"Good, now go." the Hokage replied. "You'll have your hands quite full with Naruto on your team, and we know how he is after spending over half of his life raised by Anko… Tell me, why did you pick Naruto?"

"Let's just say, as a favor for a friend…" Kurenai replied as she left.

The next day, Naruto arrived to the class on time no less. He immediately received various surprised glares as he walked down the stairs and sat near Hinata. She noticed the smile that was spread on his face.

"Having a good morning?" Hinata asked.

"Damn straight." Naruto replied. "Mom taught me a new jutsu, I made Genin, and I learned a clone jutsu that is far superior to the one you all know."

"I think you just got lucky dobe…" Sasuke replied. "There's no way a loser like you could make Genin."

Without even wasting a minute. A kunai was suddenly sent flying by Sasuke's cheek. Naruto walked over to a wall, pulled out the kunai, licking the blood that was on it. Sasuke and the whole class looked at him like he was crazy.

"Tastes like fear and failure…" Naruto replied.

"Naruto!" Ino and Sakura shouted as they both ran towards him. Naruto simply slid out of the way and watched as the both ran into the wall.

"You should really watch where you two are going…" Naruto replied.

He returned to his seat, and talked to Hinata until Iruka came into the class. Everyone who was still standing returned to their seats. Ino and Sakura did their daily battle over who would sit by Sasuke until Shino walked in and took the seat.

"Alright, class." Iruka said. "My final act as teacher is to assign you all to your new Genin teams. Each of these three teams will consist of three of you, and be lead by Jounin. During this time, you are to obey their commands, as they are now your leader. In other words, please do your best. Now that you are Genin, you officially represent Konoha." The nine Genin nodded and Iruka looked at the team sheets he was given. "Team Ten, led by Sarutobi Asuma will consist of Haruno Sakura, Akamichi Chouji, and Nara Shikamaru."

No sooner had the man finished speaking that Asuma entered the room. He instructed the genin to follow him to training field 9. Chouji followed first, munching on some chips, Shikamaru mumbling something about troublesome girl, while Sakura cried about not being with Sasuke.

"Next we have Team Seven." Iruka resumed. "Your new leader will be Hatake Kakashi, and will consist of Yamanaka Ino, Uchiha Sasuke, and Inuzuka Kiba."

Ino cheered as she would be paired with her precious Sasuke, Sasuke remained silent, and Kiba looked around. Something was missing. Kakashi wasn't there.

"Yo, where is Kakashi-sensei?" he asked.

"Good question." Iruka replied. "Take a seat by the front while you wait, and I assign the others. Now then the next team is Team Eight. It will consist of Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Mitarashi Naruto."

The three looked up as the said woman walked in the room. She looked at her three new students. Hinata bowed politely, Shino simply nodded, while Naruto had a huge grin on his face. Kurenai sighed. This would be a true test of patience with Anko's kid on her team.

"Alright, team." she told the three Genin. "Follow me to the roof, and we'll begin things there."

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**NEXT CHAPTER: ONE FINAL TEST!**


	7. One Final Test: My Ninja Career Begins!

DISCLAIMER: Despite my threats, complaints, pleas, and plans, I don't own Naruto.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and support. I'll do my best to keep this going good for you all! Please keep them coming. They feed my soul.  
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Naruto, Hinata, and Shino followed their new Jounnin instructor to the roof of the academy. She decided that she was going to play by ear to decide what she would do today with the squad. She needed to give them the test to see if they were ready to be a team, and it would be helpful to know more about them as well. Once they reached the roof, she instructed them to have a seat before.

"Alright, let's get started shall we?" she said to the Genin. "My name is Kurenai Yuhi, and I'll be your new Jounnin instructor on our team. I'm going to come on out and say that you all are the first team I ever led, but get one thing memorized if you learn nothing else: I'm not here to baby-sit you all. I have better things I could be doing, so I expect you all to behave like grown shinobi, got it?" she asked. She glared at Naruto for a moment who wasn't even paying attention. He was busy balancing a kunai on the tip of his nose. "Anyways, why don't we get started by introducing ourselves? Tell me your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies and any goals."

"Why don't you start us off?" Naruto asked. "We at least slightly know each other from class, but we don't know squat about you…" Kurenai cursed Anko for raising Naruto to have her personality, but had to admit he had a point.

"Fine then." Kurenai replied. "As I said at the start, my name is Kurenai Yuhi. My likes are tea, my friends, and reading. My dislikes are people who harm others for fun, cold weather, and people who treat friends and teammates with disrespect. My hobby is reading, and my goal is to be successful with my first Genin team. Now, let's move on to you." she said, pointing at Shino. "What's your name, likes, dislikes, and hobbies?"

"Shino Aburame." the quiet boy replied. "Bugs, people who hurt bugs, and training with my bugs."

"You're like an open book, ain't ya?" Naruto asked him. Shino simply pushed his sunglasses up on his nose.

"How about you next then?" Kurenai said looking at Naruto.

"Fine by me!" Naruto replied. "My name's Naruto Mitarashi! I like my friends and mom, ramen, snakes, and dango! My dislikes are liars, people who think they're better than everyone else, fan girls, people who mistreat snakes, and the three minute wait for ramen to cool. I my hobbies are eating ramen, training with my friends and mom, and learning new jutsus!"

Kurenai looked at Naruto as he grinned. He reminded her so much of Anko. She had the same obsession with snakes when they were Genin on the same team, but that was a long time ago. Kurenai snapped back into reality and asked Hinata to introduce herself.

"M-my name is Hinata Hyugga." she answered quietly. "I like my three best friends, flowers, and training with my friends. I hate people who judge someone before they get to know them, and my hobby is pressing flowers."

Kurenai thought for a moment. Her team consisted of what seemed like a miniature Anko, a girl who was incredibly shy when put on the spot, and a boy with little to no emotion. It was quite an unusual team. She nodded for the team to rise and she smiled.

"Now that we've finished introducing ourselves, It's time for a test to see if you're ready to become Genin." she told them.

"A test?!" Naruto shouted. "I thought we already took the graduation exam! What the hell do we need another test for?!" Hinata gave Naruto a look for his loud outburst trying to get him to calm down, while Shino simply sighed.

"Let me finish." Kurenai said. "This is more of a survival test of sorts. Meet me at training ground 11 in about an hour, and I'll go into more there." Kurenai disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving the three Genin standing on the roof.

"An hour, huh…" Naruto replied. "Alright, come on Hinata and uh… I guess you to bug-boy."

Naruto grabbed Hinata and took off, with Shino walking slowly behind. As they reached the bottom floor of the school, they passed a silver haired Jounnin who had his nose stuck in a book. He was mumbling to himself as he walked up the stairs.

"Let's see… Lost on the road of life? No… Maybe saving people from a fire?" he asked himself.

"N-Naruto-kun, where are we going?" Hinata asked.

"We're looking for Ten-chan and Bushy Brow…" Naruto replied. "They were both Genin a year before us, so maybe they know what this survival test is about."

"They have a different Jounnin leader though…" Shino spoke up. "How would asking them about it help? I doubt they Jounnins give the same tests…"

"Shino maybe right." Hinata replied. "Besides… I don't want to interrupt them if Gai-sensei is training them…"

"What? I'm sure he wouldn't mind giving them a break for a few minutes." Naruto replied. "Besides, I've never met their teammate yet."

"I think we don't need to meet them." Hinata said. "Why don't we just grab some lunch and then go meet Kurenai-sensei?"

"Fine… If you say so." Naruto replied.

He had to admit that he was slightly curious about Hinata not wanting to see if Gai's team could tell them anything, but let it go after she offered to by the team lunch at the dango restaurant. The made small talk, mainly Naruto and Hinata, while Shino remained as silent as ever. After killing enough time, they arrived at the training ground to see Kurenai already waiting on them.

"Good, you're all on time." she said as they arrived. "Now that you're here, we can begin the test."

"What is this test anyways?" Naruto asked.

"Simple. I'm going to go hide, and you all have three hours to find me." Kurenai replied.

"That's it?" Naruto asked. "We're playing hide and seek? What the hell kinda test is that?"

"Oh right… My apologies… I forgot to mention, if you don't find me and catch me in three hours, you all get to go back to the academy. Time starts… Now!" Kurenai said with a smirk. She disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Ok, so I'll go find her, and you both do whatever." Naruto shouted. He took off running into the nearby forest.

"Sad… He's so excited that he doesn't even realize she went this way…" Shino said. He turned and headed in the other direction.

"Wait… Naruto-kun? Shino?" Hinata called. "I guess I'll go this way…"

Hinata ran through the field looking around. She looked all around, but didn't see her anywhere. Kurenai was a Jounnin, so both Shino and Hinata knew that this wasn't going to be easy tracking her down, but Naruto was sure that this would be nothing for him. After wandering the field for the third time, Hinata stopped for a minute and activated her Byakugan. She took a look around the field, and then saw her. Kurenai was using genjutsu to disguise herself as a bush. Hinata smiled and leapt into the trees. She would sneak up on the woman, and catch her from above. Hinata made her way stealth fully through the leaves, pausing on the branch above Kurenai. She smiled and then jumped down, aiming straight for her.

"Sorry, Hinata." Kurenai said with a smile. "It's going to take more than that."

Kurenai disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Hinata to catch nothing but air. Hinata reactivated her Byakugan, and scanned the field again. She was nowhere to be found. Hinata quickly ran forward, and began to track her down. She moved some into the forest and looked around.

"Where did she go…?" Hinata asked herself.

She scanned the forest. She saw rocks, trees, logs, and a bear. Then hit her, that there weren't any bears this close to the village. She ran forward, and sure enough, the bear was revealed to be Kurenai. Kurenai sighed.

"Seeing me is one thing, Hinata, but it will take more than that to catch me." Kurenai said.

Once again, Kurenai disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Hinata to search for her again. However, Kurenai had grown bored of Hinata, and decided to see what Shino could do. The bug user was standing at the center of the field. A calm, relaxed face was on him, or as much as one could be seen, which wasn't much. Shino looked over his shoulder, and bugs began to fly out of his jacket. He looked at them all and nodded, sending them all flying in various directions. One group of bugs flew by a tree and spotted something, the group remained behind, while one flew back to Shino.

"I see…" he said.

He slowly walked over to the tree, and sent a mass amount of bugs from his jacket, to the trees. The bugs flew up and soon, Kurenai came falling down from the trees. Shino walked forward, just in time for the woman to explode, sending Shino skidding away from the tree. The bugs followed behind him, and returned to his jacket. He stood back up and looked at the area of the explosion.

"Genjutsu… She disguised a kunai with an exploding tag as herself." Shino muttered. "Working alone will not make this easy."

Naruto was going nuts. He had been at this for nearly an hour and still hadn't seen heads or tails of Kurenai. He was making his third lap through the forest near the training grounds, when he got an idea.

"Man… I can't believe I didn't think of this!" Naruto shouted. He made several hand signs and then performed Kage Bushin. Ten shadow clones appeared around him. "Alright, here's what we'll do!." he told them. "Everyone split up and find her."

All the shadow clones nodded and turned to look for the woman, only to drop their jaws when they saw her standing right in front of them. The real Naruto jumped forward and smiled.

"We got you now, Kurenai-sensei!" he shouted. "Let's get her!"

The clones jumped forward and began to catch her. Two jumped at her, but Kurenai simply ducked underneath them, causing them both to crash into each other and vanish. Another three ran forward, but Kurenai grabbed one of them and slammed him back into the other two. Naruto nodded to the remaining four and all of them leapt to her. Kurenai sighed as she leapt into the air and tossed her kunai at all three at rapid speed, causing them all to vanish minus the real one who got the kunai in his ass. Naruto leapt out of the forest and landed right in front of Shino and Hinata.

"Damn it… I almost had her." Naruto complained sitting up.

"This isn't working… We only have twenty minutes left to catch her." Hinata replied helping him up.

"Tch…" Naruto mumbled. "Give me five more minutes and I'll get her…" he pulled out a kunai with one of Anko's sadistic grins on his face, only for Shino to stop him.

"It won't work." he replied. "The object here isn't just to catch her. If it was, we would have done so already."

"So it's teamwork then?" Hinata asked.

"Of course." Naruto replied. "Why else would we be divided into groups of three?"

"Anyways…" Shino sighed. "We need to combine our strengths to catch her. Naruto tell me, how many shadow clones can you make at once?"

"Right now I can make about 10." Naruto replied.

"Can they perform the Seneijashu?" Shino asked.

"Of course! They have all the abilities I do." Naruto responded.

"Hinata, you can keep track of her with the Byakugan, correct?" Shino asked.

"Yes." Hinata replied.

"Good… Then here's what we'll do…" Shino whispered.

Kurenai was sitting on a rock in the forest, wondering where the others were. They only had about five minutes left, and she was getting rather bored. She really had hoped that the three of them would pass, but perhaps they just weren't ready. Suddenly two snakes slithered by. Kurenai smiled, however that smile quickly faded. Two groups of five Narutos jumped out of the bushes on the left and right. Kurenai was preparing to get some space to deal with them, only to see Shino and a wall of bugs blocking her path. She then turned around, only to see Hinata standing in her path, with more of Shino's bugs with her.

"Close, kids…" Kurenai said. "You forgot about teleporting though."

"And you forgot about my snakes!" Naruto shouted.

Kurenai looked down to see snakes wrapped around her hand, making it impossible for her to make her hand signs needed to escape. Kurenai looked down and sighed, but then a smile slowly crept across her face.

"Alright, then… Looks like you all successfully caught me." she exclaimed. "You all pass." The bugs returned to Shino, and the clones and snakes vanished. Kurenai and the Genin all returned to the training area to listen to what she had to say.

"Congratulations on passing. Now, can anyone tell me what the point of this lesson was?" Kurenai asked.

"To get us to work together as a team." Hinata answered.

"Correct." Kurenai replied. "The only bad part was that you failed to realize this until near the end. Hinata, you were to shy to ask for Shino to help, and let Naruto do whatever he pleased. Naruto, you were so busy showing off, that you disregarded Shino and Hinata when they needed you. Shino, you need to be more open. If you find something odd or having trouble, don't keep it to yourself." All three of the Genin nodded and Kurenai looked at her watch. "Alright, we'll be getting our first mission tomorrow, so make sure you all meet back here at 9:00 A.M."

They all nodded and Kurenai left to fill her report on the success of Team 8 to the Hokage. Shino also excused himself, saying that it was time for him to head home. Naruto and Hinata decided to meet up with Lee and Tenten in the usual spot, and headed for the ramen stand.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Naruto asked as he and Hinata sat down. Naruto ordered miso ramen, while Hinata was there just to socialize.

"About time you two showed up!" Tenten replied. "Where have you been?"

"We had our first meeting with our Jounnin leader today." Hinata answered. "Kurenai-sensei made us take some test to see if we were ready to be on a team."

"YOU PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS NO DOUBT!" Lee shouted. "I CAN SEE THE FIRE OF YOUTH BURNING IN YOU BOTH!"

"Yeah…" Naruto said. He held his left ear in which Lee just screamed in. He reached onto a plate and pulled off his sixth stick of dango. "She said we gotta meet her at the training grounds tomorrow at 9:00 A.M. for our first mission." Naruto looked at his watch and realized he was late. "Damn, I gotta go, or else mom'll make do the target practice test again."

"Anko sure does make you train a lot." Tenten replied.

"I guess that's normal though when you're mom is a Jounnin though." Naruto answered. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

They watched as Naruto sped away from the restaurant. He made his way to the Forest of Death, back to the tower he and Anko called home. He opened the door just in time to see a kunai whiz past his face. Naruto sighed as he pulled it off the door frame and walked towards the balcony. Sure enough there was Anko leaning against the railing with a huge grin.

"Can't you just say hi like normal parents?" Naruto asked as he through the kunai back at her.

"That wouldn't be much fun, now would it?" Anko replied. "Besides, you're late."

"Yeah, sorry about that…" Naruto answered scratching the back of his head.

"So? Did you pass Kurenai's test?" Anko asked.

"Of course!" Naruto shouted. "Though it was weird… I mean our test was like a giant game of hide and seek."

"Really…" Anko said. "That's the same test that our sensei used to give us when we were on a Genin team. It took us all three hours to find him."

"That's right you were on a Genin squad too." Naruto replied. "Who did you have on your team?"

"Hmm? Don't you know it's not nice to pry into someone's past?" Anko asked with a smile. She suddenly kicked Naruto over the railing, back to the floor below. "Besides, you got training to do."

"You know, I can make it down here without you kicking me like that…" Naruto mumbled.

Meanwhile, Hinata had just arrived home. She quickly ran up to the bathroom in her room, bathed and freshened up, and then headed downstairs for dinner. Her father, Hiashi, along with her sister Hanabi and cousin Neji were already there when Hinata arrived. There was silence as the meal began. Hinata was probably the quietest there, barely making any noise, almost as if she was not even breathing.

"So, how was your day, Neji?" the head of the main family finally asked.

"Same as always." Neji replied. "Some light sparing with my teammates, opening little room to improve myself."

"Yes, I could see where a stronger team may benefit you." Hiashi replied. "Tomorrow morning I will see if any of the other Genin teams have an open slot. Hinata, what about you? How was your first day as Genin?"

"It was fine, father…" Hinata quietly replied.

"Who is on your team?" he asked.

There it was. The question Hinata had been dreading. She knew that he would not care about Shino, but her father had long ago displayed his dislike for Naruto, when he flat out stated that Hinata should avoid any contact with the boy. He never said why, which made her even more curious.

"Shino Aburame and Naruto Mitarashi…" she replied, looking down at her plate.

"How did he make it to Genin?" Hiashi asked. "The Mitarashi boy failed the exam, or so I've been told."

"He passed the exam later…" Hinata looked down. "H-he was able to make more clones then anyone. D-during the t-test with Kurenai-sensei, he m-made 10..."

"After dinner you shall spar with Hanabi." her father suddenly said. He got out of his seat and walked away. "I will not of a monster like him upstage the Hyugga Clan…"

Hinata watched as Hanabi went after her father, and Neji just mumbled something under his breath before leaving. Her mind though was on Naruto. Why did almost everyone refer to him as monster and demon? What did he do to deserve so much hate?

Things were a little more reserved and, as to be expected morbidly quiet at the Aburame house. Shino was asked about his day and team. However, his family was mainly quiet when informed of Naruto Mitarashi being a teammate, or at least to his ears. Upon finishing his dinner and retiring to his room for the night, Shino's parents talked about the repercussions of Naruto being involved with their son could have on him as well as the family. They would ask the Hokage in the morning about keeping close watch on Naruto, to prevent the power inside of him from harming him. Shino didn't need to hear it however. The mere mention of Naruto's name caused a slight detection of worry on his father's usually emotionless face. The gears in Shino's brain began to turn, making him wonder what it was that made the adults worry at the mention of Naruto…

"I trust all the tests went well?" the Hokage asked the three Jounnin as they entered his office.

"More so than I originally planned." Asuma replied. "I even here ol' Kakashi finally passed a team."

"Only because they were the first to truly understand the point of the bell test." Kakashi added. He wasn't really paying attention that much. He appeared to be more interested in his new book.

"How about your squad, Kurenai?" the Hokage asked.

"They all did quite well. In fact their innate skills seem to correspond well with each other." she replied. "The combined force of Hinata's Byakugan, Shino's bugs, and Naruto's shadow clones and snakes are…"

"Shadow Clones and snakes?" Asuma repeated. "Shadow clones are a Jounnin level technique, and there are only two people I know who can use snake style jutsus…"

"He learned the shadow clone jutsu the night the scroll was stolen." Kakashi answered. "As for the snakes, it is to be expected, seeing as how his mother is Anko, who also teaches him at night."

"So he's the one who stole the scroll?" Asuma asked.

"I forgot you were on a mission when the event happened." Kakashi replied.

"Make no mistake; he was lead to steal by Mizuki's orders, who was his sensei at the time." Kurenai replied. "Do not think any less of the boy, as he was simply following orders at the time."

"Are you kidding?" Asuma replied. "The fact that a newbie Genin is able to perform shadow clones is enough for me to respect him."

"That's good to know…" Kurenai thought. _"I'm curious as to why she's teaching him HIS jutsus though…"_

Kurenai thought. 

"Kurenai-san? Is something wrong?" the third asked.

"No… Anyways, I believe you have the first missions for us?" Kurenai replied.

"Of course." the Hokage replied. "These are the basic jobs for newly formed Genin teams: home repair, shop aid, babysitting, things of that sort. All of you pick one and have the teams report to my office once they finish."

All of them picked out one of the cards. Kakashi got one about running a flower shop for the day. Asuma picked out one about a trio needed to watch a set of triplets. Kurenai picked one out about a missing cat. She remembered how the team had to pass a test that involved finding her, and now their first mission would be finding a cat. She could see Naruto drawing out his kunai to slice anything that crossed him. She sighed at the thought as she went home, to rest up for a full day with her new team.

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NEXT CHAPTER: A REAL MISSION!

I apologize if this chapter seems weak. I was facing massive fatigue and tiredness while writing it. I promise to do better next time. I'd also like to answer one question people keep asking. Yes there is a pairing in this, and no it isn't Hinata or Sakura. Thank you, and I shall see you in the next chapter!


	8. Onward To The Land Of Waves

DISCLAIMER: Despite my threats, complaints, pleas, and plans, I don't own Naruto.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and support. I'll do my best to keep this going good for you all! Please keep them coming. They feed my soul.  
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"Have you found the target, Whiskers?" a female voice asked.

"Of course!" Whiskers replied. "How about you two, Pale Eyes and Bugs?"

"Y-yes, N… I mean Whiskers." Pale Eyes responded.

"I see him." Bugs added.

"Cool." Whiskers replied. "On your word Red Eye."

"Alright." Red Eye answered. "NOW!"

Out of the bushes jumped Naruto, followed by Hinata and Shino. The cat immediately screeched and began to run. Naruto eyes widened. Reacting on instinct of his training with Anko, he pulled a kunai and tossed at the running feline. Hinata gasped and covered her eyes. Shino simply arched an eyebrow. Kurenai heard the cat screech and immediately ran to her team. What she saw upon arriving almost made her faint. There hung the cat by his collar. The collar was hung on a low part of the tree so he wasn't choking, but it was stuck to the tree by a kunai.

"Heh… Not bad, huh?" Naruto asked.

"Shut up!" Kurenai replied. She hit Naruto on the back of the head and walked over to the cat. Carefully, she pulled the kunai back at Naruto and picked the cat up in her arms. Naruto was starting to resemble Anko so much it scared her. She walked past her team and nodded.

"That's it for this mission. Let's go back and get another since it's still early." she told them.

Shino walked behind her, while Hinata made sure Naruto was ok before she scolded him for being so reckless. He smiled as he listened to her. It almost made him think of her as a sister, which the two practically were from how close they were. Despite Naruto's… unique way of handling things, the team was managing to complete about two jobs a day. However, to be honest, most of them were all boring in Naruto's point of view. He didn't see the importance of having ninja do jobs like gardening, dog walking, baby sitting, and especially searching for lost cats. They had been Genin for a little over two weeks now, and this was the seventh time that they had to look for the same cat. Just like always, they returned to the Hokage's tower, with cat in tow.

"My precious kitty!!!" a rather fat woman shouted while grabbing the said kitty.

Actually eying the cat, and then the woman again, Naruto began to get an understanding about maybe why the cat kept running away. Without even so much as a word of thanks, the woman walked out of the office leaving Kurenai and the Genin with the Hokage. Deep down, everyone of them said their apologies to the cat. The team then turned to face the Hokage, as well as Iruka who was working as an aide to the man for the day.

"Well… Despite the number of times you all appear to complete this mission, well done." the Hokage said. "Now then, let's talk about your next mission."

Naruto sighed. He really didn't know why the missions were like this. Even if they were rank D missions, they should hold a little more importance than this. Regardless of his current feelings, Naruto stood at attention as the old man looked through various scrolls. He scratched his beard, and took a long drag off his pipe.

"Let's see… Your next mission, is one that none of you have ever seen the likes of yet…" he said. Naruto's eyes immediately shot open after that. The old man was going to give them a new mission. He was excited beyond belief. "Your next mission… Is to repair the roof of the tower."

"God damn it…" Naruto muttered.

"Is something wrong, Naruto?" the Hokage asked. Kurenai rolled her eyes. She knew what was next.

"YOU'RE GOD DAMN RIGHT THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG!" he shouted. "All this time, we've been doing… these… these… Summer vacation jobs! Come on, you old fart! How about a real mission! One where we actually get to fight or something! My kunai are starting to cry from all these pointless bores!"

"Naruto!" Kurenai shouted.

"What?" Naruto asked. "You can't tell me you enjoy these missions!"

"That's not the point, Naruto!" Iruka added. "You have to complete a various number of D rank missions before you can do the more difficult missions! Take your job and go!"

"Our ninja skills are gonna go to waste though!" Naruto protested. "Come on, old man! Just one high rank job, come on!"

"Naruto that's eno…" Iruka began.

"Ha… No Iruka… He's got a point!" the Hokage smiled. "Alright, Naruto. You want a tougher mission? I'll give you your wish. Here is a C rank I think your team can handle."

"Hokage-sama? You can't be serious…" Iruka replied.

"Why not?" the old man asked. "His team is already ahead of the other two rookie teams in terms of missions complete. I don't see why they can't start some C rank missions."

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" Naruto shouted. "This is gonna be fun!"

"Calm down Naruto, we don't even know what the mission is …" Shino replied.

"Who cares?! Anything is better than the crap we've been doing!" Naruto replied.

Shino sighed. He had to admit that Naruto was right. These missions that the team had been doing recently were the pits. Hinata didn't say anything, but she was on the same page as the others, although Naruto could've put it a different way. Kurenai on the other hand, was struggling not to beat the living crap out of Naruto. It was times like this that she thought about what it would have been like if she had taken Kiba instead.

"Now, now…" the Hokage said with a chuckle. "Everyone calm down and I'll give you the information. The mission is to serve as escorts for a bridge builder. You will take him from this village, to the Land of Waves."

"A bridge builder?" Naruto asked. "You gotta be kidding me… Not a princess, or a lord, or anything like that?!"

"Hmph… Judging from the likes of you, this'll be the end of me…" a voice said.

Naruto and the others turned to see an older man walk into a room. Naruto could smell the liquor on his breath. He had to be drunk; it was the only way he would make such a comment about Naruto was if he was blind. The old man scoffed.

"Hokage-sama…" he began. "With all due respect you gotta be kidding me. This ain't nothing but a group of kids. There's no way they could protect me on the way to my homeland." He shot a glance at Naruto. "Especially the blonde kid, he's an idiot." As if on cue, Hinata, Shino, and Kurenai grabbed a hold of Naruto.

"Rule number one of an escort mission, Naruto." Kurenai said with a sigh. "Killing the client means failing the mission."

"Hmm… Seeing as how I'm pressed for time, I accept their aid." the old man replied. "My name is Tazuna, and until we reach the Land of Waves, you guys are under my orders."

"Actually Tazuna-san, this team is my responsibility. I will make it our duty to protect you, but should something seem odd, I will have them return to the village for their own safety." Kurenai said.

"Whatever, let's just get a move on." Tazuna said.

"Get about a weeks worth of supplies." Kurenai said to them. "Bring only the necessities, and don't over pack!"

Naruto and the others nodded and made their way to their homes. Naruto bounced happily along the trees of the forest. He burst through the door and launched himself into the living part of the tower. Anko looked up from a book she was reading.

"Hey, kid! What'cha so excited about?" Anko asked. "You nearly took off the damn door!"

"Can't talk! Gotta pack!" Naruto shouted back.

"Pack? Pack for what?!" she called as Naruto dashed to his room. "Damn it…"

She put the book down and walked down the hall to his room. She opened the door just in time to see clothes flying out of his wardrobe. Several kunai and throwing items lie scattered about the room, as well as a few scrolls. Naruto packed his bag like a madman, as if he was going to be on the run, and only had five minutes to escape.

"Naruto…" Anko called out. He didn't respond. "Oh, Naruto…" she called again in a dreamy voice. Still he didn't answer. Finally she through a kunai which landed right in front of his crotch, barely missing his… area. "HEY, KID!"

"What?!" Naruto shouted as he fell over. The shot was so close his face was a different color. "What the hell is it?!"

"You tell me!" Anko shouted back. "You broke the damn door down, run through the house screaming like a little school girl, and then start ripping your room apart. What the hell are you doing?!"

"Oh right, sorry about that…" Naruto stood up. "I'm goin' on a mission to the Land of Waves. I'm going to be gone for about a week…"

"When did you find this out?" Anko asked. "Leaving the village makes a mission at least a C rank mission. You and the others only became Genins two weeks ago."

"What can I say? I'm just that damn good." Naruto said with a smile. Anko smiled back.

"What the hell are you waiting for then?" she asked. "Get the hell outta here, and make sure you kill one for me!"

Naruto nodded and hugged her before running out the door to rejoin the others. Hinata, Shino, Kurenai, and Tazuna were all waiting at the gates when Naruto arrived. Tazuna looked annoyed.

"About time, runt…" the bridge builder said. "Let's go. We're running behind as it is."

Kurenai looked as the bridge builder began to walk, and nodded to the Genin to come along. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something didn't seem right about this. Why was this man in such a hurry? This was a C rank mission, so even if there was any danger, it shouldn't be anything that they couldn't handle, even if they were a team of Genin. As they walked along the path leading away from the village, Naruto took a deep breath of the air, as he looked around. He had never been outside of Konoha before, so he had to admit that all of this was new to him. He only calmed down for a minute when he noticed something close.

"A puddle?" he thought. _"It hasn't rained in weeks… Something isn't right about this. Kurenai-sensei must notice it too…"_

he thought. 

Suddenly out of the puddle, jumped out two ninjas. Almost if by reflex, Shino and Hinata pulled Tazuna behind them. The two ninja surround Kurenai, and wrap her in chains. They both look at each other, and nod. With one tug, the chains snag, and Kurenai is ripped to pieces in front of her team's eyes.

"Shit…" Naruto muttered as he pulled out a kunai. "As cool as that looked, it wasn't good."

The two ninja turned and faced Naruto and the others now. Naruto looked back at his team. Shino was emotionless as normal, but a simple nod let him know that he was ready to move at a moment's notice. Hinata eyes were wide with fear. Naruto cursed. It was just him and Shino for this fight. Shino sent out a wave of bugs which encircled Tazuna and Hinata. He then found himself engaged in a taijutsu fight with one of the ninja. Shino was not expert at hand to hand, but he was decent enough, thanks to training he received. His family believed that should bugs fail in a battle, taijutsu should be a back-up measure.

"You're taijutsu is lacking…" Shino said.

"I'm just letting you keep up…" the ninja replied.

The two continued to exchange blows. Shino was not able to land many blows, but he didn't seem to mind, as if he had a different plan. The ninja began to wonder what Shino was finding so amusing. Finally he got fed up.

"What the hell is so funny?" the man asked.

"The fact that you made ninja, but pay so little attention to things around you." Shino replied. "Look."

The ninja looked down to see a swarm of bugs, quickly inching their way up his body. He screamed and panicked, as each one began to crawl on his skin. He passed out, almost immediately. His fear of the bugs snapping and devouring him was enough to take him down. Shino sighed and called his bugs off, moving to rejoin Hinata and Tazuna. Naruto smiled as the bug ninja returned to the others.

"That was sad." Naruto told the remaining ninja.

"Your friend just got lucky." the enemy ninja said. "Besides, we took down that woman in one move."

"Heh… you're an idiot you know that?" Naruto replied. "She's up in that tree." Naruto pointed to a tree behind him, and sure enough, Kurenai came hopping off a branch. "So that makes the score one us, zero you."

The ninja wasted no time in charging Naruto. The boy smiled and pulled out a kunai. Kurenai's eyes widened. She knew that smile. Anko used it every time she fought an enemy ninja. They never survived. Naruto ran forward and leapt over the ninja as he swung at him. With rapid speed, Naruto threw the kunai into his back. He landed behind the stunned ninja. He was surprised that a squirt like Naruto was able to move with such speed. Naruto smiled even more sadistically. Anko's influence on him was beginning to show even more now. The poor ninja never had a chance. Naruto called forth a shadow clone. With only a nod, they both rushed forward, and began to slice away at the ninja. Shino's eyebrows arched. Kurenai gasped and covered her mouth. Tazuna pulled his hat down. Hinata closed her eyes. Naruto smiled as the ninja was ripped into pieces. The shadow clone vanished and Naruto put his kunai away. After securing the remaining, living ninja, Kurenai thought it was time to bring up her concern to the bridge builder.

"Tazuna-san." she began. "What is the truth about this mission? There should have not been any confrontation. You haven't been telling us the truth about this whole mission have you?" Tazuna remained silent. "Fine then, I see this mission as being to difficult for my team to finish, and we shall return to the village…"

"Fine…" Tazuna replied. "The truth is… That this is not a basic escort mission. My life is in danger. Do you know who Gato is?"

"Gato?" Shino spoke up, all turned and faced the usually quiet ninja. "You mean Gato of Gato Shipping and Transport?"

"What would a business man of one of the most successful companies in the world have to do with this?" Kurenai asked.

"The business man Gato is simply a mask." Tazuna responded. "There's much more to the surface than that. The real Gato is a murdering, ruthless criminal. He hires shinobi and gangs to do his dirty work, and also specializes in drugs and contraband. He takes over company after company, until he gains control of an entire country. He came to the Land of Waves a little over a year ago on a "business venture." However, no sooner had he arrived, that a wave of violence broke out. He managed to take control of our shipping company, which is the largest and most valuable company to the village. We've been under his thumb ever since."

"I understand that you all must be suffering." Kurenai added. "However, I still fail to see where you fall into place in this."

"As you all know I am a bridge builder." Tazuna answered. "Well there is only one thing that Gato fears, which is the completion of the bridge I've been building for some time now. It connects the Land of Waves, to the main land."

"S-so the bridge would b-become a major aid for the village." Hinata said.

"Yes." Tazuna said. "The bridge would be a major aid in encouraging trade and such with other villages. New businesses could come, allowing the economy to repair, and drastically weakening Gato's power."

"Does that mean that the two losers me and Bug Boy beat up are part of his hired thugs?" Naruto asked.

"Most likely." Kurenai added. "They were most likely expecting Tazuna-san to come alone. Though you and Shino managed to fend them off easily, they had to be at least of the Chunin level. If what he says is true, they'll probably be many more of them to come, probably stronger than those two were." She turned and looked at her team, and then back at Tazuna. "You'll have to forgive me, but the mission has seemed to become a great deal more dangerous. I cannot make a decision that will willingly put my team in danger. I have to take their feelings in to consideration." With that she looked back at Naruto and the rest. "I want to know what you all think. If you find that the mission may prove to be too difficult, then we'll return back to the village and find a more suitable escort for him. If you think that you are willingly to continue though, and put it all on the line to complete the mission, then we shall continue onward."

"I'll do it." Naruto said without any hesitation at all.

"You could at least think that through first, Naruto." Kurenai replied. "It's one thing to want to fight and show your toughness, but in the process of making this decision, you not only put your own life on the table, but Hinata's, Shino's, Tazuna's, and mine."

"It has nothing to do with proving strength." Naruto answered. "I have a promise to keep. I don't turn down people who need help, I don't turn my back. If someone would have done the same thing eight years ago, I wouldn't be here right now. She taught me better than that, and I am not going to betray what she taught me. Even if it means going alone, I will finish this mission, and protect Tazuna."

Kurenai smiled. She knew exactly what he was talking about. If Anko had turned her back on him that night, Naruto would have been killed by the villagers. She understood why he was so determined to continue on, regardless of the danger. She turned back and looked at Shino and Hinata. Shino simply nodded and moved toward Naruto. He was on his side. That left Hinata. She sat there for only a moment before nodding.

"I think… We should keep going…" Hinata shyly said.

"Fine." Kurenai replied. "However, we should keep a close watch on Tazuna-san."

The team nodded and began to move forward once more. Naruto lagged behind a little bit, to wait for Hinata to catch up. She looked at him for a moment, before gazing back to the ground. Naruto looked at her curiously.

"Hey, what's up?" he said.

"I let you and Shino down." she replied. "If they were stronger, they could have ended up hurting you both, or worse… I'm so worthless…"

"Hey, shut up." Naruto told her. "You are not anywhere close to being worthless. You froze up, big deal. It's gonna take a hell of a lot more to kill me and Buggy off anyways. You're strong Hinata, stop berating yourself. Besides, if you get in trouble I'll come help ya. I'd put my life on the line for my "little sister."

"Little sister?" Hinata questioned, making a pout face. "Why do you get to be the older one?"

"I'm two months older, that's why." Naruto said with a grin.

Hinata giggled at this, as it reminded her of the first time Naruto called her that when they were maybe six at the most. The two ran to catch up to the others. Hinata was glad that Naruto was on her team. The two had become so close they were like brother and sister, and to be honest, Hinata felt closer to Naruto than she did the rest of her actual family. She promised herself that she would be stronger from now on. She would not be a burden to the mission. There was a long silence as the group made their way to the Land of Waves. It was almost night fall, so the team decided to set up camp, and continue on later in the morning.

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NEXT CHAPTER: DEMON OF THE MIST!


	9. Attacked In The Mist

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANYONE ELSE!

Before I begin, thank you all for submitting ideas to help me get this moving again. To be honest, this was the only part that I was having trouble moving along, so it was really pissing me off that this one arc was gonna kill me. I plan on this taking at least two chapters to do, simply because I don't want to rush through any of the story arcs like some people do. At any rate, let's begin.

Also, starting from now on, there will be a note section that translate the jutsus when used for the first time into English. These will be marked in the story with a number as so: (1)

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Morning came, and soon the group found themselves on a boat heading for the Land of Waves. Naruto and the others seemed to notice that Tazuna was becoming more and more tense with every passing moment. Naruto, who was balancing a kunai on the tip of his finger, decided to kill some time and break the awkward silence.

"Hey, old man." he called out. "What's this place like anyways?"

"Naruto, you will address him as Tazuna-san at the least, do you understand?" Kurenai asked.

"Fine…" sighed Naruto. "Tazuna-san, what is the Land of Waves like?"

"Well to be honest…" the old man replied. "It used to be a land of promise and opportunity. Before Gato came along, it was a prosperous port village. We mainly specialized in shipping and trade, but it was also a relaxing place to relax on a vacation perhaps."

"I suppose this all changed when Gato came along?" Shino asked.

"Yeah…" Tazuna said as he took a sip of his sake. "He originally showed up with the promise to be able to help our little village become even stronger. His plans that were showed to the mayor of the village and the council were pretty sound. For a time, they were as well. Gato was actually given control of the place since he was doing so well, that's when things went straight to hell."

"I think I see what happened next." Kurenai said. "The money that was flowing into the village started going somewhere else."

"Bingo." Tazuna said. "It went straight to Gato's pockets. Trade began to decrease, taxes rose, the council and mayor were given the boot, and before long, Gato essentially became a self-proclaimed king."

"Ano… If he was so bad, why didn't the village get rid of him?" Hinata asked.

"The Land of Waves isn't like one of the other major countries." Shino explained. "Instead, it seemingly acts as an independent state of sorts. Because of this, while they do have a military force, it is not strong. Also, if Gato had as much money as Tazuna-san says he does, he was probably able to buy the favor of some of the military, or even hire his own."

"You're pretty smart for a runt." Tazuna said. "At any rate, that is the truth. Gato has quite an army of rouge ninja, samurai, and the likes. They also manage to blend into the town rather seamlessly, so you guys will have to be pretty alert when we get there to do your job."

"We know…" Naruto said. _"It's not like we need you tell us how to do our job!"_

The boat eventually slowed to a stop and the team disembarked and began to make their way across a forest path towards the village. Tazuna led the way with Kurenai right behind him. Both the three Genin followed suit by forming a triangle of sorts around them. As they trudged on, the air around them began to get misty and thick. Kurenai began to move a little slower causing the others to follow.

"Strange…" she said. "It's mid-afternoon. It shouldn't be getting foggy and such like this right now."

"You're right…" Tazuna said. "Very unusual weather for this time of year around here."

"You guys know what to do." Kurenai said.

As if by instinct, Hinata activated her Byakugan, Shino sent several of his bugs to scout the area around them, and Naruto summoned a small snake to move ahead some to see what was there. Tazuna let out a low whistle as he saw them do this without a single word being mentioned.

"Not bad for a bunch of runts…" he said.

"Tazuna-san, with all do respect, give my team credit." Kurenai said. "If the Hokage didn't think they were ready for an escort mission, he wouldn't have sent them."

"Kurenai-sensei… We are not alone." Shino said as his bugs returned.

"Alright then… I'll take point now." Kurenai said as she moved to the lead. "Naruto, Shino, Hinata, you three form a triangle defense around Tazuna-san."

The three followed their orders immediately. Once they ensured that he was safe, the team began to move again, cautiously. They were nearing a river when suddenly Hinata came to a stop. She looked around before she suddenly gasped in surprise.

"Everyone down!" she shouted.

Naruto pushed Tazuna down to the ground quickly as the rest of the team ducked just in time for a giant cleaver sword to impale itself into a tree. Kurenai looked up at the sword just in time to see a man wearing a Kirigakure headband land by the tree and rip the sword out. He wore bandages over his lower face, a blue jumpsuit of sorts, and had no eyebrows on his face at all. The most standout thing about him, was the fact that his headband had a slash through the Kirigakure symbol.

"Damn… Just missed them…" he said as he set the sword against his back. "Looks like ol' pale eyes there can see pretty good in this mist."

"What the hell are you doing?!" Naruto shouted as he pulled himself off the ground. "And who the hell are you supposed to be?!"

"Shut up, brat…" the man said. "You're annoying…."

"What?!" Naruto shouted. "That's it, I'm gonna kick this guy's ass!"

"Naruto, stand down." Kurenai said as she walked forward. "You wouldn't be a match for him at your level, isn't that right Zabuza Momochi?"

"Hmmm… So you've heard of me?" the now identified Zabuza asked. "I'm impressed."

"Don't be." Kurenai responded. "Being a wanted criminal is nothing to be proud of. Listen, things may get a little rough from here. I need you three to hang back with Tazuna and protect him. Leave Zabuza to me."

"But Kurenai-sensei!" Naruto protested.

"No buts." she replied. "You aren't ready for an opponent like this, none of you are."

"Look… I really don't like beating up ladies if its possible to avoid." Zabuza said. "So just give me the old man over there, and I'll get out of your way."

"Sorry, but that's not an option." Kurenai said.

"Have it your way, just don't expect me to go easy on you!" Zabuza said as he charged forward and sliced at Kurenai.

The genjutsu specialist nimbly jumped out of the way as he attacked. She formed several hand signs as she landed, and began to blow a line of fire at the swordsman. He quickly countered by making several hand signs. He spiral of water fired out of his hands at the fire, canceling the attack out effectively.

"Not bad…" Kurenai said. "Canceling out my Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu(1) with Suiton: Hahonryū(2)."

"Don't get to full of yourself. I'm just getting started." Zabuza said. He made several more hand signs, and afterwards, he was joined in battle by a clone of himself. Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu…" he said with a smirk.

"A clone?" Naruto asked. "That's his big plan?"

"Yes…" Shino replied. "Did you not notice it? He used the water in the nearby river to form the clone. In a way, it's like your shadow clones. It'll be able to attack and use jutsu like he can."

The two Zabuza grabbed their blades and ran forward towards Kurenai. Each one let forth a mighty swing in the opposite direction, each blade slashing right through the Jonin. Kurenai smiled as her body began to waver and disappear upon being slashed, causing Zabuza's eyes to widen in shock.

"An illusion?" he asked. Suddenly a kunai flew through the air and pierced the clone, killing it instantly.

"They don't call me the Genjutsu Mistress for nothing." she said as she appeared behind Zabuza.

"I guess that's true, but likewise, I'm not called the demon of the mist of no reason either." Zabuza said.

The remaining Zabuza that stood before her fell apart into water. Suddenly, right after that, another Zabuza appeared right in the middle of the Genin and Tazuna. As he swung his sword, Kurenai seemingly appeared out of nowhere as well. She quickly managed to push them all out of the way, and quickly forced a kunai through Zabuza's back. She smirked as she saw the water falling out of his body where the kunai struck.

"Behind you, sensei!" Naruto shouted.

Another Zabuza rose from behind Kurenai. With a flick of the wrist, he swung his blade down, smiling as it sliced right through her. Hinata sighed in relief though, instead of seeming worried like Naruto did.

"What is it, Hinata?" Shino asked as he noticed the Byakugan activated on her eyes.

"It was only a shadow clone…" she replied as her eyes deactivated.

"A clone?!" Zabuza shouted.

"Yes." Kurenai replied as she pressed a kunai to his neck. "It's over now, though."

She quickly formed several hand signs and vanished from sight. Zabuza's eyes widened as tree roots began to grow around his feet, before an entire tree was raised from the ground. Branches expanded forward, binding around his arms, preventing him from moving what so ever. Zabuza struggled to get free, but to no avail. He cursed as he stopped struggling.

"What the hell is this?" he asked.

"Magen: Jubaku Satsu.(3)" Kurenai said as she slowly appeared from the tree trunk. "Now that you are completely unable to move, killing you off will be a breeze."

"It would be… If it were actually me." Zabuza said.

"KURENAI-SENSEI!" Hinata shouted. She quickly reactivated her Byakugan and gasped in horror. "RUN!"

Her warning came too late. The swordsman body suddenly reverted to water and fell to the ground. Kurenai's genjutsu immediately dropped as she looked around, only for the swordsman to appear out of a tree and punch her across the face. She fell over the river, barely managing to gather chakra to keep herself on top of the river. She had barely pulled herself up on to her feet when Zabuza attacked by swinging his sword at her feet. Kurenai jumped over the blade and then let herself fall into the water in order to try and put some distance between the two.

"Got ya…" Zabuza said with a smirk as Kurenai suddenly swam back to the surface.

_"What is this?!"_ Kurenai thought. _"The water is heavy!"_

She struggled against the water as Zabuza began to make several hand signs at a rapid rate. Kurenai, as well as the water around her rose into the air and surrounded her until she was trapped in a floating ball of water. She through a kunai against the walls of her prison, only to be greeted by a chuckle from Zabuza.

"Sorry, babes…" he said. "But there's no escape from my Suirō no Jutsu(4)… Now be a good girl and wait there while I finish off the old man and your brats." A clone of Zabuza rose from the water and began to make his way towards the Genin and Tazuna. "Now then…" he said. "Which one of you wants to go first?"

"Crap… He took down Kurenai-sensei like it was nothing…" Naruto said as he pulled a kunai out of a pouch on his belt.

"N-Naruto?" Hinata called.

"What are you two waiting for?" Naruto said. "It's up to us to save the day!"

Naruto ran straight for the clone, kunai in hand and attacked. The clone simply jumped back before launching a kick that landed straight into Naruto's stomach. The Genin skidded away from the swordsman clone, his headband being knocked off in the process. Naruto shakily stood up and grabbed his kunai that lay by his side. Zabuza smirked as he stomped his foot onto Naruto's discarded headband.

"What are you all doing?" Kurenai asked. "I told you, you're no match for him! Take Tazuna and run!"

"HELL NO!" Naruto shouted. "If I ran away every time things got tough, then I wouldn't be a Genin today…"

Naruto once again charged straight for Zabuza's clone. Kurenai eyes widened as her friend's son was throwing his life away on some silly whim. The blonde Genin launched another attack at the clone, who once again kicked him away. This time, Naruto came straight to a stop in front of his teammates.

"You idiot!" Kurenai shouted. "Listen to your sensei and run!"

"Kurenai-sensei is right, Naruto-kun…" Hinata said. "We're only Genin, we're no match for him."

"Hinata…" Shino said. "Look…"

She looked as Naruto stood back up on his feet. In his hands, was his headband. He tied it around his forehead and grinned as he looked back at his teammates. Shino pushed his glasses up on the bridge if his nose. Hinata looked at him as a small smile appeared on her face. Naruto then turned back and looked at Zabuza.

"It'll take more than that to kill a Leaf Shinobi." Naruto said to him.

"Naruto…" Shino said. "I trust you have a plan?"

"Oh, yeah…" Naruto replied. "It's party time."

"What's wrong with you all?!" Kurenai shouted. "This fight was over the second he caught me! Don't forget your mission about protecting Tazuna! Take him a--"

"Heh…" Tazuna cut in with a chuckle.

"Tazuna-san?" Hinata asked looking back at the bridge builder.

"Let's face it kids." he said. "We're all in this mess now because of my lies. I've had a real long life, and it would be wrong for you kids to all die just trying to protect me. So go ahead, give this freak everything you got."

"So that's it then…" Shino said.

"Yeah…" Hinata added.

"Ok guys, I need you to cover me long enough, can you do that?" Naruto asked.

"Hai!" they both said.

"Good." Naruto replied. "Hinata, I need you to fight the Zabuza clone. Shino, stay back and guard Tazuna-san just in case."

As if planned from the start, the Hyuuga girl ran straight towards Zabuza. She began to attack in her Jūken(5) style, Zabuza's clone barely managing to stand one small hair ahead of the girl. She would strike with her palm that he would barely manage to duck under. Eventually, he grew tired of the attacks, and managed kick her back. Hinata fell to the ground, and barely rolled out of the way in time for Zabuza's sword to strike the ground where she was laying. As she began to rise to her feet, the clone was already on top of her with another attack. The sword began to drive right down into her, only to be blocked by a wall of bugs.

"What the hell?!" Zabuza asked.

"Mushi Kabe no Jutsu(6)…" Shino said from beside Tazuna. "I don't need to be close to you to aid in the fight."

"Kid…" Tazuna said. "Did you just…"

"Yes." Shino replied. "I attacked with bugs that just happen to live inside of me. It's fine if it makes you sick, but please hold off on throwing up until we're safe."

"Thanks, Shino!" a dual set of familiar sounding voices shouted. Zabuza looked in the tree Hinata sat in front of just in time to see an army of Naruto jump down and grab a hold of him by his arms and legs. Another Naruto walked forward with a smile on his face. Hinata's Byakugan deactivated as she looked at him. "You did good, Hinata. I'll handle the rest. Get out of here."

"But…" Hinata began.

"Trust me, nee-chan…" Naruto said.

"Right." she immediately replied. She ran off to join Shino by Tazuna.

"Now then…" Naruto said as he looked at the clone. "Time to finish things off." He grabbed a hold of one of Zabuza's hands, and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a kunai with his free hand. Then in an act surprising everyone, he stabbed his own hand. He then formed a single hand sign with both his and Zabuza's hand while smiling evilly. "Sōjasōsai no Jutsu!"(7) he shouted.

"No…" Kurenai thought as she heard the technique's name escape Naruto's lips. "He wouldn't… He can't!"

From out of the sleeves of his trench coat slithered two snakes, each one biting both Zabuza and his neck and wrists. The shadow clones that were holding Zabuza's clone vanished, along with Zabuza's clone itself. Naruto fell down to the ground still smiling, and panting heavily.

"Idiot…" the real Zabuza said. "Sacrificing his own life to kill one clone."

"You think?" a familiar voice asked.

Zabuza looked up just in time to see Naruto jump down from a tree and punch him square in the face. His hand fell out of the water prison that held Kurenai, freeing her in the process. Zabuza swam back to the surface after being knocked into the water. The swordsman was needless to say pissed. Naruto smiled at him as he helped his sensei out of the water, onto a rock that was in the water.

"How?" the swordsman asked.

"Shadow clones." Shino replied. "Correct, Hinata?"

"Yes." Hinata answered. "I recognized that they were all shadow clones when I had my Byakugan activated, that's why I gave up on staying behind so easy."

"For a Jonin, you sure are an idiot." Naruto said to Zabuza. "Do you really think I would submit to killing myself that easily? The technique I used is a last resort one, so I just had a shadow clone do all the last resorting for me. While you and your clone were busy, it gave me the time I needed to finish it off while the real me was able to sneak over and free Kurenai-sensei."

"You brats think you're hot stuff?!" Zabuza shouted. He jumped out of the water, placing chakra onto his feet to stand on it and began making several hand signs.

"Naruto, get back!" Kurenai replied. The blonde Genin followed his sensei's orders as she began to follow through several hand signs as well.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!(8)" shouted Zabuza.

"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!(9)" shouted Kurenai at the same time.

From the water rose a dragon made of water who charged right for Kurenai. At the same time, a blast of fire escaped from Kurenai's mouth. The fire and water clashed which resulted in both canceling each other out. Zabuza's eyes widened as through the mist flew several shuriken, each one smashing right into Zabuza. The Demon of the Mist flew back and landed against the tree breathing heavily.

"Watch out!" Hinata shouted with her Byakugan activated once again.

Everyone looked up in the trees that she did just in time to see a masked boy unleash a handful of senbon needles that pierced Zabuza in the neck. The swordsman's body fell limp and hit the ground with a solid sounding thud.

"Dead…" Kurenai said to no one directly as she walked forward and put her fingertips against his neck. She looked up at the masked boy in the tree as he jumped down and walked towards Zabuza.

"Thank you for your assistance." the boy said. "We've been after him for quite a while."

"That mask…" Kurenai said. "You're a shinobi hunter from Kirigakure, correct?"

"Yes." he replied.

"Shinobi hunter?" Naruto asked. "What's that?"

"A ninja who specializes in hunting down rouge ninja and outlaws." Shino replied.

_"Strange…"_ Kurenai thought._ "Judging from his height and voice, he's not any older than Naruto or the others. He's already a full-fledged shinobi hunter though."_

"Wait a minute!" Naruto shouted. "Who the hell are you?!"

"Calm down, Naruto." Shino said. "He's not an enemy."

"I didn't say he was!" Naruto replied. "But look at this! He killed Zabuza with one flick of a wrist, while we were sweating over it and struggling to stay ahead! To make it worse, he's only about our age! Do we suck or something?"

"Calm down, Naruto." Kurenai said as she walked over to the blonde. "I can understand how this would make you mad, but I have to admit that this won't be the first time you see a person who might be younger than you, with skills that are on a Jonin level."

"At any rate… I'm afraid I must be on my way." the boy said as he put Zabuza's body over his shoulder. I must dispose of the body, so if you'll excuse me…" The boy disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving Squad Eight and Tazuna alone.

"Well, that must have been humiliating!" he shouted as he adjusted the brim of his hat. "Regardless of who finished who off, I owe you all my life, so I'd be honored if you stayed at my house to lick your wounds."

"Thank you, Tazuna-san." Kurenai said. "That'd be nice." Kurenai began to walk past her Genin as the bridge builder followed. "Well then, shall we be on our way?" The team immediately began to follow, Shino being his usual quite self while Naruto was muttering under his breath about the shinobi hunter. Hinata lingered for a moment before she jogged to catch up to the others, deactivating her Byakugan in the process.

_"Zabuza…"_ she thought. _"I don't think he was dead… I'll ask Kurenai-sensei about it alone later tonight, so I don't start up a fuss until we're sure…"_

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THERE IT IS! I WANNA THANK YOU ALL FOR HELPING ME OUT OF MY SLUMP! I WILL CONTINUE TO UPDATE THIS STORY ON A REGULAR BASIS ONCE AGAIN!!! THANK YOU ALL!

NEXT CHAPTER: BATTLE AT THE BRIDGE

NOTES:

1) Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

2) Water Release: Rapid Crasher

3) Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death

4) Water Prison Technique

5) Gentle Fist

6) Bug Wall Technique

7) Twin Snakes Mutual Death Technique

8) Water Release: Water Dragon Blast Technique

9) Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique (I made this stronger in the story than normal, due to the fact that it being used by a Jonin should normally increase its power)


	10. The Final Confrontation Begins

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANYONE ELSE!

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Before long, the team and Tazuna arrived at the village that he called home. Much to their dismay, the stories he had been telling them were true. A majority of the businesses had gone under, and the ones that were there, didn't have much to choose from, if anything at all. One of the things that caught Naruto, Hinata, and Shino's eyes were the people sitting on the sides of the streets. They were holding signs which said they would work for food, shelter, money… Anything basically.

"Here we are!" Tazuna said as they came to a house on the edge of town. "Home sweet home! You kids'll love it here. Tsunami is a great cook, she can make just about anything!"

"Any thing?" Naruto asked.

"Yep!" Tazuna replied.

"Even ramen?!" Naruto shouted getting more excited.

"The best there ever was!" Tazuna replied.

"NOW WE'RE TALKING!" Naruto shouted back. "WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? LET'S GO!"

Tazuna and Naruto raced a head to the house. Hinata, Shino, and Kurenai all sighed before following the two. Tazuna smiled as he swung the door to his house open. He took his hat off and placed it on a hat rack, along with kicking his sandals and dropping his backpack off at the door. Naruto and the others followed suit with their sandals.

"Tsunami!" Tazuna shouted. "I'm home!"

"Hi, oto-san!" Tsunami called. She walked down the stairs and threw her arms around the old man's neck. "Did you have a nice trip back from Konoha?"

"Heh… Well, it was an eventful one to say the least." Tazuna replied.

"What do you mean?" she asked back.

"Just a few ninja attacks, that's all." Tazuna said. "Trying to do the usual."

"The usual?" Kurenai asked. "You've been attacked more than once?"

"Ever since my oto-san and his workers started to build the bridge, Gato and his thugs have been attacking them and the bridge on a regular basis. The bridge is a threat to his rule over the village, so he's doing whatever it takes to stop it…" Tsunami explained.

"Enough shop talk though. You kids are to rest!" Tazuna said. "Tsunami why don't you show them to the guest room while I get myself settled back in?"

"Sure…" she sighed. "Come along."

Tsunami led the others up the stairs and into a small room in the back of the house. She apologized for the size, but Kurenai assured her that it was more than large enough for them. The others dropped their backpacks and began to lay out their sleeping bags for the night, when Hinata suddenly got everyone's attention.

"Ano… Sensei?" she called. "I've been thinking…"

"What's up, Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"It was about the shinobi hunter that showed up during the fight with Zabuza." Hinata said. "I understand his desire to want to keep their methods a secret, but…"

"Yes, I see it now…" Kurenai said. "I can't believe I missed this."

"What is it, Kurenai-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Shinobi hunters who are in charge of body disposal, destroy the corpse of the killed target right on the spot, without a moment's delay." Kurenai explained. "So how did he dispose of Zabuza's body?"

"How should I know?" Naruto asked.

"Exactly…" Kurenai said. "The thing is, he only needed to bring back the head to show that he finished the job… Also, there's the fact of the items he used to kill Zabuza, senbon acupuncture needles…"

"What about them?" Naruto asked.

"Those needles are very deadly if they hit a vital spot." Kurenai explained. "However, if they don't the mortality rate is surprisingly low. Remember that they were also originally designed to be medical tools. Shinobi hunters, and all members of any village's corpse disposal unit, must have a thorough and intimate knowledge of the human body, in both mental and physical aspects. It would be incredibly simple for them to put someone in a near death state."

"In other words, there is a chance that Zabuza is alive and well?" Shino asked.

"Yes…" Hinata said. Everyone turned to look at the girl. "When the boy was taking Zabuza's body away, I was able to get a good look at his chakra systems with my Byakugan… It was still flowing…"

"So, there is no doubt that Zabuza is alive." Kurenai said. "And the shinobi hunter is probably in league with him."

"So what do we do?" Hinata asked.

"We agreed to only escort Tazuna back to the village." Kurenai said.

"We can't just leave him high and dry though!" Naruto argued.

"Indeed…" Shino said. "Even if we got Tazuna to town safely, the mission would still feel like a failure if he were to die shortly after getting there…"

"In other words, you want to protect him through the bridge building?" Kurenai asked.

"Of course!" Naruto said.

"Alright… But we'll have to get some training in." Kurenai said. "I could tell in the last fight that Zabuza was fighting with all he had…"

"What kind of training?" Hinata asked.

"I think some advanced chakra training would be for the best." Kurenai said. "We'll go over the details about it tomorrow. For tonight, let's rest."

The team agreed. Soon, dinner came, and they all went down to eat. Naruto was ecstatic to find a steaming hot bowl of miso ramen waiting on them. Quickly, he grabbed his chopsticks and began to gobble the bowl, along with Tazuna who ate almost as fast he did. After dinner, Tsunami served some tea, which was when Kurenai decided to tell Tazuna what the others decided earlier.

"Tazuna-san, Gato and his men are interfering with your bridge being built and such, correct?" Kurenai asked.

"Y-yeah…" Tazuna said. "What's it matter to you guys though? I mean, you're going back to Konoha after tonight, right?"

"Not exactly…" Kurenai said. "Seems our mission to guard you has been extended until you build the bridge."

"I appreciate the offer, but this village can't afford that." Tazuna said.

"Consider it a mission of morals…" Kurenai replied. "We'll do this for free."

"What about your village?" Tazuna asked.

"Don't worry about that." Kurenai said. "Do you accept our offer?"

"Sure… You guys proved to be a reliable lot in getting me here." Tazuna said.

"Alright!" Naruto shouted. "This is gonna be fun!"

The next day soon came, and Naruto and the team found themselves in the forest on the outskirts of the village. There was a small lake nearby in the center, is where Kurenai decided to hold the team's meeting at. Naruto yawned as it was early in the morning.

"Alright, it's time to get this training started." Kurenai said. "I assume you all have the basic grip on chakra control. From what I understand, the Hyuuga teach it at an early age to help with control of the Byakugan, and the Aburame teach it as well to aid with the controlling of their insects. I also know that Anko taught it to Naruto to help him learn some of his jutsu. However, your current level of chakra control is no where near perfect. So we're going to work on another level of it."

"Another level?" Hinata asked.

"Yes, we're going to practice walking on water." Kurenai said.

"Walking on water?" Naruto asked. "You and the eyebrowless freak were doing that when you were fighting each other yesterday, right?"

"Correct." Kurenai said. "In a way, this kind of an advanced form of tree climbing. The basic difference being the amount of chakra you have to force down to the soles of your feet. If you use too much, or not enough, you'll be sent under."

"Ano… Can you show us how to do it?" Hinata asked.

"Of course." Kurenai replied. She gracefully walked out onto the water and stood in the direct center of it. Hinata activated her Byakugan to get a better look at Kurenai's chakra. The genjutsu mistress smiled. "Sorry, Hinata, but seeing as how our chakra outputs are different, you'll need to use a different amount than I do."

Hinata nodded and deactivated her Byakugan. She then slowly began to walk out on to the water, only to fall under shortly after stepping out. Naruto tried next he stepped out onto the water only for a wave to form and send him flying back to the shore. Shino was the next to try. He made it out to the water, and while he had some difficulty keeping his balance, he basically managed to keep above the water.

"Alright… Naruto, you used to much chakra. Hinata you didn't use enough. A basic hint is that it takes a just a bit more than it does for you to do your tree walking… Or maybe a bit less, it more or less depends on the person. Shino, you've got the basic hang of it. Just try to adjust your chakra output a bit more, and you've got down the basics." Kurenai explained.

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"You really let those ninja do a number on you." a boy said as he finished changing the wrapping an arm in bandages. "Had I not interfered when I did, they may have killed you, Zabuza-sama."

"Shut up, Haku…" Zabuza replied as he retracted his arm from the boy. "Everyone slips up now and then. The woman and brats just got lucky, that's all."

"Still you should be more careful now." Haku said. "I highly doubt that they went back to their homeland after escorting the old man home. Also, there still is the matter of Gato and his men."

"Only a technicality." Zabuza said. "Once I have the means to complete my main goal, the pig and his blind followers are done for."

"Big words for a demon who can't even defend himself." a voice said.

"Gato… What do you want?" Zabuza asked.

"Checking in to see if the rumors were true." Gato said. "I had heard that the famous Demon of the Mist was beaten by a bunch of brats, and I hoped it was just a lie."

"Is there a reason you're here?" Zabuza asked.

"Only to make an offer…" Gato said.

"An offer?" Haku asked.

"Yes, an offer." Gato replied. "I want you to kill Tazuna in three days, as well as the ninja brats that are protecting him."

"Why should I risk my neck out for the likes of you?" Zabuza asked.

"I think you're forgetting your position." Gato replied. He snapped his fingers and two swordsmen walked into the room where they were. "In your current position, you don't have the strength to do anything. You were barely able to escape with your life last time, you should count yourself lucky."

As if practiced, both swordsmen grabbed their blades and charged straight for Zabuza. They prepared to impale him with their swords, only for Haku to intercept them. He had managed to steal both swords from them, and now held them up against their throats.

"Touch one hair on his head and I will kill you both…" he said.

"Tch…" Gato grunted as he walked out. "Come on… Think it over, Zabuza… You and the boy are tough, but not tough enough to kill all of our men…"

"What do we do?" Haku asked.

"For now, we play be his rules… Besides, I can't have my reputation going downhill like this." Zabuza sighed.

"Zabuza-sama, I need to go gather some more, herbs for your ointments. Will you be alright while I'm gone?" Haku asked. He pulled his hair out of its bun, allowing his hair to fall well past his shoulder blades.

"Go on, kid." Zabuza replied. "I can handle myself for a bit."

Haku nodded and he quickly changed his clothes, from his brown pants and blue robe into a long pink kimono of sorts. He grabbed a nearby basket and bid Zabuza farewell as he stepped out to go about his business. The sun was just beginning to rise over the tips of the trees that surrounded the forest where the herbs grew. As he made his way towards the area where he harvested them, he came across three bodies that were sitting by the water's edge.

"I think we're finally getting this down." Naruto said.

"You're getting this down." Shino replied as he walked on top of the water over to where Hinata and Naruto rested. "Hinata and I both had the basics down a while ago."

"You never let up, do you?" Naruto asked. He stuck his tongue out at Shino who simply arched his eyebrows in return before adjusting his sunglasses.

"I think you're doing good, Naruto-kun." Hinata said.

"I knew I could count on you, Hinata!" Naruto shouted. He threw his arms around his adopted sister who giggled at his antics.

"It seems we aren't alone…" Shino interrupted. He turned and looked up at the approaching Haku, as did Naruto and Hinata.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted anything." Haku said. "I'm only here to collect a few medical herbs, after which I'll be on my way."

"Medical herbs?" Naruto asked. "Why?"

"Call it a hobby of mine." Haku replied.

"We could help if you want, right guys?" Naruto asked.

Shino gave an impartial shrug while Hinata smiled and nodded. The four of them set down to work on collecting the herbs. They were gathering quite an armful together. Haku thanked them for their help, and decided to make small talk to pass the time.

"So, what are you three doing out here at this time of the morning?" Haku asked.

"Just some light training." Shino said before Naruto could respond.

"Any particular reason?" Haku asked.

"So we get stronger, of course!" Naruto said. "We need to get stronger so we can fight at our best!"

"I see, I take it by your headbands that you're all ninja?" Haku asked.

"Yep!" Naruto replied.

"That's good…" Haku said as he smiled at Naruto's antics. They continued to collect herbs for a few more minutes, before Shino looked up at Haku and arched an eyebrow. Haku smiled as they finished putting the last of the herbs into the basket.

"Being a ninja sounds like a dangerous career." Haku said. "I bet there have been plenty of dangers and threats you all have faced."

"Well… Yeah, I guess…" Naruto replied.

"Tell me, do you have anyone precious in your life?" Haku asked.

"Precious?" Hinata asked back.

"People that you would do anything to protect." Haku replied.

"Yeah… Naruto said. "I got a handful I consider to be that way."

"That's good…" Haku responded. "I think, that when people protect something truly precious to them, they can become as strong as they want to be."

Naruto paused for one brief moment. He smiled as he thought back to the night when he became a Genin. The thought of when his oka-san was giving her life to protect him, which in turn gave him the power he needed to defeat Mizuki and save her life.

"Yeah…" Naruto said. "I know all about that!"

"I see…" Haku took his basket and stood up. "I think you will all grow stronger. I hope to meet you all again one day."

"Wait…" Shino called. Haku stopped and turned back to look at the bug ninja. "So… Has Zabuza made a full recovery?" he asked.

"W-what?" Haku said as he nearly dropped his basket that had the herbs in it.

"Shino, what are you talking about?!" Naruto asked.

"My insects recognize the chakra he ever so lightly emits." Shino replied. "This is the shinobi hunter who took Zabuza away from the fight before we could finish him off."

"You… You were the ones who did that to Zabuza-sama?" Haku asked. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of senbon needles.

"Our actions were in self-defense." Shino said. "He attacked first, we responded."

"So wait, you mean these herbs we just sat here gathering were for that eyebrowless freak?!" Naruto asked.

"Probably." Shino replied.

"Is there a problem here?" Kurenai asked as she walked out of the trees.

"No…" Haku said as he picked up his basket and began to walk off. "I was just leaving." The four of them watched him go out of sight. Kurenai smiled and looked over at Shino who nodded.

"That more or less proves our suspicions about Zabuza and the shinobi hunter…" Kurenai said. "Now all that's left to do is wait."

"How do we know when he'll come back?" Hinata asked.

"I left a female insect on his body before he left." Shino replied. "They have a slightly different aura about them then most insects do, so we'll know when we see him again."

"At any rate, let's resume training." Kurenai said. "I know that you all have the basics of water walking down…"

The time seemed to fly by. Building on the bridge went better than ever. Without one attack from Gato or his men in three days. The guard duty on the bridge shifted to where the Genin assisting Kurenai would switch out with one of the others every three hours. The two Genin who weren't at the bridge continued to practice their water walking, which after the first day was expanded into sparing while standing on the water. This was a bit more complicated since the chakra they were using to stay afloat on the water was now being distributed else where.

"Change in plans today, everyone." Kurenai said as the team finished their breakfast. "Today we're all going to go the bridge to oversee the building."

"Why the change?" Hinata asked.

"Well, you've all been training hard these past few days, so I felt you could use a slight break. That's all." Kurenai explained.

The team said their goodbyes to Tsunami and headed off to the bridge with Tazuna. It was a warm, sunny day. The three Genin were happy with the progress they made in their training, and honestly didn't mind taking a day off from the training. They engaged in small talk along the way, until suddenly, Tazuna came to a complete stop when they reached the bridge, which the others did too. Scattered across the bridge were the bodies of various men who helped Tazuna build the bridge. A few of them were alive, but most were not as lucky.

"What… What happened?" Naruto asked.

"Looks like Hinata was right…" Shino said as a thick fog began to set over the bridge. "He survived."

"It's good to see you again, beautiful." an eerie voice echoed out across the bridge. "I see you've brought all three of those brats along with you too. Look, the little blonde kid is shaking in fear…" From out of the mist jumped an army of Zabuza, each one smiling in anticipation.

"You couldn't be more wrong, asshole." Naruto said with a grin. "I'm shaking in anticipation for a rematch."

"Go ahead and have some fun, Naruto." Kurenai replied.

The clone army of Zabuza began to take of towards the group that they surround, as Naruto took off with a kunai in hand. Soon water splashed around the bridge, in the places where the clones once stood. Shino turned his head to left.

"They're here." he said.

Sure enough, the others turned to see both Zabuza and Haku standing there waiting on them. The biggest difference from their previous encounter during the first confrontation, was that Haku did not where his mask this time. Seeing as how the others knew who he was thanks to Shino, there was no longer a need to hide behind it. Zabuza smirked as he began to walk forward.

"Good to see you all again." Zabuza said. "I missed you all so much, I was hoping to have the chance to play with you again. I even brought my friend along for the ride."

"Looks like you were right, Shino." Naruto said. "He is the shinobi hunter from the other day. Stand back, everyone. I'll--"

"No…" Hinata said as she stepped forward. "Let me, please." she said.

The others were surprised to see normally quiet and shy Hinata step forward. That was, until Naruto remembered the attack that the two mist ninjas launched on the team when the escort mission had began. Hinata was the one that suddenly found herself unable to move, or try to fight back. She hated herself for that… She wanted to change herself from the Hinata that froze up when trouble started. Naruto smiled and nodded.

"Give him hell, Hinata-chan." Naruto said.

"Right!" she replied back. She activated her Byakugan and stepped forward taking a kunai in her hands in the process.

"Haku, would you care to do the honors?" Zabuza asked.

"Yes…" Haku replied.

In a flash, Haku disappeared and reappeared in front of Hinata. He swung around with a senbon needle in his hand, which was instantly deflected by the kunai in her hand. Haku swung back around and attack again, this time locking with the kunai, causing both to be stuck in a deadlock.

_"Just as I thought…"_ Kurenai thought. _"He's fast, but with Hinata's Byakugan, she's able to keep up just fine. It was probably for the best that she chose herself to fight first…"_

"I must say, you're very good." Haku said. "Originally, I didn't want to kill you, but since you are the ones responsible for Zabuza's injuries that he suffered earlier, I think I can let that slide this once."

"You don't know what your getting yourself into." Naruto said from the sidelines. "Hinata-chan isn't any push over!"

"That maybe, but she can only keep up with me for so long." Haku said. "Plus I've laid ground for two attacks now."

"Two attacks?" Hinata asked.

"Yes, first there's water splashed all around the field from where your blonde friend went through all of Zabuza-sama's clones. Second, I've trapped one of your hands in parrying this move, which leaves only one hand to defend yourself with." Haku said.

Haku began to fly through a series of hand signs, but the most alarming thing about them was the fact that he was doing it all with one hand. The water began to rise off the ground and harden into ice. Hinata's eyes widened as all of the needles aimed and crashed down right where she was standing. Haku's eyes widened as Hinata was no longer where the needles hit, but rather, she was right behind Haku, and managed to slam him in the back with her palm. Haku caught his balance as he began to fall, and spun around, and struck at Hinata with his senbon needle. Hinata managed to dodge the blow thanks to her Byakugan, and struck at Haku again, this time striking him in the chest and sending him flying back towards Zabuza.

"This is the best you can do?" Zabuza asked Haku. "Not a very good start for someone who wants to kill the ones who hurt me in battle."

Haku rose to his feet and began to make several hand signs. Suddenly, the water around Hinata rose to the air and began to take shape into rectangles. In fact, upon further investigation, Hinata realized that they were in fact mirrors of sorts. Haku quickly ran to one of the mirrors and climbed inside. Imagine Hinata's surprise, when Haku appeared inside of every single one of the mirrors that surrounded her. This caused her to lose her concentration, as well as her Byakugan to deactivate.

"Hinata…" Kurenai whispered. She began to run straight for the mirrors, only to be cut by Zabuza.

"Now now…" Zabuza said. "Let's allow our kids to play together, while you and I do the same…"

_"Mirrors… What is he planning to do with them?"_ Hinata thought.

"If you thought you were fast before…" Haku said. "Allow me to show you what true speed is."

Suddenly a barrage of senbon needles exploded through the mirrors. Hinata's screams could be heard as all of them began to skim or pierce her. Naruto's eyes widened at the sounds that the girl was making. Kurenai was equally pissed.

"Not so fast…" Zabuza said. "If you go to her, then I'll kill the other two behind you."

_"Two?"_ Kurenai thought. _"Who's missing?!"_

"YOU BASTARD!!!" a familiar voice rang out.

Everyone's eyes snapped over to the mirrors just in time to see Naruto toss a kunai straight into them at a rapid speed. Haku was knocked clear out of the mirrors and Naruto ran inside of the dome to see if Hinata was ok.

"Naruto-kun… Don't think I'm not grateful, but…" Hinta began.

"But?" Naruto replied.

"But now you're both trapped in my attack…" Haku said as he reappeared in the mirrors.

"Oh, please!" Naruto shouted. "These mirrors were made out of water. When you hardened them, they became ice. Your little trick is full of holes, just you watch!" Naruto made several hand signs. He blaze of fire shot out of his mouth and straight at the mirrors. To both Naruto and Hinata's surprise both mirrors remained the exact same. "What the hell?!" Naruto shouted. "Fire is supposed to melt ice!"

"Do you honestly believe that my jutsu would fall to such an attack?" Haku asked. "Now… Let me show you a real attack."

Haku flicked his wrist outward as a barrage of needles began to fly forth. Kurenai couldn't tell what had happened, nor could Shino or Tazuna. All they heard where the pained screams of both Naruto and Hinata fill the air. One thing was for certain, things were definitely looking bad…

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OK, I decided to split the chapter up into two, meaning that the Wave Arc will end in the next chapter. You'll notice Inari doesn't appear in this chapter, and that's mainly because I never did like him, and I really don't care for the Arc much, with the exception of Haku and Zabuza. I've also decided to open a new poll! I've been receiving many questions about who will be Naruto's eventual mate. I really wanna pair him with two girls, however I will settle for one girl only. Also, I haven't decided who yet, for the most part. The picks are below, so please pick one that you like:

Ino

Tenten

Temari

Ino and Tenten

Tenten and Temari

Ino and Temari

Read, review, and vote, and I will see you next chapter!


	11. Mission's End

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANYONE ELSE!

The Pairing Votes So Far:

Ino- 2

Tenten- 3

Temari- 6

Ino and Temari- 10

Ino and Tenten- 14

Temari and Tenten- 18

Voting Ends In Two Chapters. Feel Free To Vote Again!

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Naruto staggered to his feet, helping Hinata to hers in the process. He quickly reached up, and pulled a needle out of the side of his face. That last attack had happened so fast, he could barely even recall if it was actually will or not. Hinata was hurt, that much was obvious. Naruto had to pull it together now. He couldn't let his "nee-chan" die here, nor could he let himself die here. His mother wouldn't let him hear the end of it if he got whipped in this fight.

"You alright, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Yes…" she replied as she climbed to her feet.

"Good…" Naruto said with a grin. "Don't worry, just sit tight. I'll get us out of here in a minute."

Naruto formed several hand signs and smiled. With a large cloud of smoke, several shadow clones appeared wearing the same grin as the real Naruto. Several of them drew a kunai from a pocket on their trench coat, while the rest simply formed fists. Hinata eyes widened at what came next. Before she could warn them or get the real Naruto's attention, the mass of them jumped straight for the many Hakus in the mirrors. Haku smiled as the blondes came forward, and launched another attack. At an almost rapid rate, a blurred form of him began to zip about the mirrored dome, and clones of Naruto began to pop out of existence. Eventually the two Genin found themselves right back in the same position they had started out in.

"Naruto-kun, please stop… We have to think this through carefully…" Hinata said.

"That's well and good…" Naruto replied. "But I doubt if he's gonna give us enough time to think of a strategy! What I wanna know is how the hell he did that…"

"The technique I'm using is part of the art of teleportation. The only tool I need to use it are these mirrors that hold my image." Haku answered. "I can move so quickly, that the two of you might as well be standing still."

"I see... It's a kekkei genkai…" Kurenai said as she listened to what Haku said.

"Kekkei genkai?" Tazuna asked.

"Bloodline limit…" Shino replied. "A skill that can only be passed from one generation to the next. It's a genetic trait which runs through the bloodline of those of the purest shinobi pedigree."

"You got quite a brain on your team…" Zabuza said. "It's a shame that soon he and the others will all be dead."

"Not gonna happen!" Naruto shouted from the mirrors. "I got some things to do still… Ain't no way in hell I'm gonna die yet."

"At one point… I would've preferred that the two of you not force me to kill you." Haku replied. "But when I learned it was because of you that Zabuza was so severely injured, that I stopped caring. I will not hesitate to act as a true shinobi, and kill you all. As you just said, you have your own dreams, and I have mine. My dream is to fulfill the dreams and protect the one I care about most… I will become a true shinobi to do that, and I will kill you all."

"Don't listen to him, kids!" Tazuna shouted. "Get in there and beat the shit outta him!"

"Tazuna-san, please stay out of this." Kurenai said. "Naruto and Hinata are both strong, but they are not a match for either one of these two. Even if we had a way to counter the boy's techniques, neither Hinata and Naruto would be up to the task to defeat him."

"Heh… I see…" Zabuza chuckled. "Konoha doesn't train their new shinobi to turn their hearts to ice, and take another life. While Haku was born into a life that forced him to adjust to the life of a true shinobi in order to maintain his own life, those brats of yours were born into a village of peace and weakness. They grew up in a world without death, or the need to ensure their own survival…"

"Sorry, Zabuza…" Kurenai replied. "I'm going to have to end this fight quickly."

"You may try all you like." Zabuza said as grabbed a hold of his sword. "But I'm not going easy on you…"

Zabuza swung his blade down at Kurenai, who nimbly dodged underneath the attack. She quickly jammed the blade of her kunai into his stomach. Zabuza smiled as he seemed to disappear into the mist, leaving a baffled Kurenai wondering what was going on. She didn't see him make any hand signs at all, and yet the mist that he was able to create was strengthening. Suddenly, he jumped out from behind her with his sword and swung it downward. The blade managed to skim her back as she rolled out of the way. Kurenai winced in pain as she rose to her feet.

"You see, it doesn't matter how hard you try…" Zabuza said. "Even if you should manage to beat me, you won't have the strength to beat Haku."

"Tell me, Zabuza." Kurenai said. "Is the boy really all that strong?"

"I've beaten fighting skills into his head ever since he was a toddler." Zabuza said. "In the process, he has completely given up any and all regard to his own life and safety, becoming a true shinobi in the process. To this day, no matter how great the adversity, he has always managed to prevail. His skills pass mine in everyway, and his kekkei genkai only make him stronger. The little pieces of trash that follow you at the heels will have no chance in defeating my ultimate weapon."

"I'm tired of hearing you brag…" Kurenai said as she drew another kunai. "It's time to fight."

"Damn it… We gotta take back the initiative, Hinata…" a battered Naruto said to the equally wounded Hinata.

"B-but how?" she asked.

"Your eyes…" Naruto replied. "They're the only chance we have now, Hinata-chan!"

Hinata nodded, and began to go through the series of hand signs needed in order to activate her Byakugan. Haku's eyes widened and he shot forward, launching forth a barrage of needles. Naruto realized what was happening and he jumped right in front of the girl, taking the attack for her. Hinata was stunned at the sight causing her to lose focus as Naruto fell to his knees in front of her.

"Quite a noble maneuver…" Haku said. "However, focusing so much on saving the girl may cost you your own life."

"Then it's worth it…" Naruto said. "She is one of my precious people, and I'll do whatever the hell I have to in order to protect her."

Haku smirked and shot another barrage of needles forth. Naruto rose his arms in front of his face in order to defend Hinata from the attack. However, before any of the needles could hit, Hinata tackled the blonde out of the way, causing them all to hit the ground. Naruto's eyes opened wide and stared at Hinata, who was bent over top of him, right into her Byakugan eyes.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked.

"I can't let you do all the work, Naruto-kun…" Hinata said with a smile. "I won't get any stronger… If I keep relying on you to protect me…" She rose to her feet and stared Haku straight in the eyes. "This time, it's my turn to protect you…"

_"Those eyes…"_ Haku thought. _"I see… Byakugan… So this girl is a Hyuuga. This changes everything. I have to take this girl out before this goes on much longer. She may not be as physically strong as the boy, but she posses the biggest threat now…"_ Haku looked at Hinata and smiled a little. "I see… You too have a kekkei genkai like myself. This means that I must end this fight now. The technique I'm using consumes a great deal of chakra, so there is a limit to how long I can use it. I must show my amazement that both of you were able to last this long, but it all ends now."

Haku lunged forward with a mass of senbon needles in his hands. Of course, this caused all the reflections of him to do the same. Hinata stared in horror as all of them were heading straight for Naruto, who was trying to pull himself to his feet. They all flicked their wrists and threw the needles straight for the boy. Hinata gasped in horror and ran straight to the boy.

Kurenai ducked underneath the sword as it swung out of the thick mist. She wasn't sure exactly how much longer she could keep this up. With Zabuza having the ability to literally appear anywhere out of the mist, and strike, the Genjutsu Mistress was at a huge disadvantage. She breathed heavily as she awaited for the swordsman's next strike. His ominous laugh filled the air, sending chills down her spine.

"It's over woman…" Zabuza said. "Nothing can save you, there is no hope, surrender now!"

The swordsman's blade swung down through the mist, aimed straight at Kurenai. She prepared herself for an attack. The attack never came. Zabuza looked behind him to see none other than Shino Aburame behind him. A mass of bugs was flying out of the sleeves of jacket, and attaching themselves to the sword, using themselves as a rope of sorts to hold the blade back. As the bugs held the sword back, some of them had worked their way down the sword, and attached themselves to his hands.

"That's enough of that…" Shino said coolly. "I think it's for the best if we give Kurenai-sensei a fighting chance to strike when she can actually see the person.

As the bugs moved down the blade and attached themselves to Zabuza, he began to feel strange. It was best described as if his power was leaving him. His eyes widened as the mist began to dissipate, and his sword began to grow heavier. He turned his head back to the bug ninja with anger and hate in his eyes.

"What the fuck did you do to me?!" he asked.

"My insects feed on chakra." Shino replied. "All I did was send some into find you in the mist, attach themselves to you, and begin to drain your chakra. This not only effects the mist you've been using to hide yourself in, but your strength as well. I imagine that the blade of yours has gotten a tad heavier than before…"

"Thank you, Shino…" Kurenai said. "Go back to Tazuna, I can handle him from here."

She ran forward and managed to kick the swordsman in the head. Zabuza flew to the ground and skidded across the ground. Slowly he picked himself off the ground, the mist becoming even more useless as it faded out of sight. He cursed under his breath as he grabbed his sword with both hands and ran forward. He took a sloppy swing, which Kurenai dodged with ease. She followed through by making several hand signs, causing roots to wrap around Zabuza's feet. A tree grew out of the bridge, trapping the swordsman in the branches.

"There is no escape for you this time…" Kurenai said as she began to walk towards the tree. "Death is certain for you this time."

Naruto opened his eyes wearily. He wasn't sure how he was alive. It made no sense. He had seen Haku coming straight for his weakened body. In all fairness, he should be dead now. Slowly, he managed to get on his hands and knees. His vision came into focus, and he saw what he recognized as the bottom of Hinata legs. Across from her, lay a tired Haku on the ground, breathing heavily.

"Hinata-chan!" he said happily. "You did it, you beat…"

He froze at the sight in front of him. Hinata was covered in blood. Needles were sticking out of her body like a pin cushion. The Hyuuga heiress's breathing was heavily restricted and painful, as if it was taking everything she had to do so. His eyes widened as her legs gave out from underneath of her. Quickly, he managed to catch the girl as she hit the ground. He shook in fear as he held her battered and bloody body in his arms.

"Naruto-kun… Are you alright?" she asked.

"Hinata-chan… Why?" he asked back. "Why did you do that?"

"I had to protect you Naruto-kun…" she replied. "I was tired of being the one that was watched over. You've done it so many times for since we met… It was my turn to do it for you… To be strong…"

"Hinata-chan…" Naruto whispered.

"Naruto-kun… D-do… Do you think I changed… Maybe… Maybe a little… little bit?" she asked as her body fell limp in his arms.

Naruto looked down at his adopted nee-chan's body in his arms. He was feeling so many things at once. His eyes were burning. His lips were dry. His fingers were tingling. He held her close and cried on her shoulders. Haku rose to his feet and watched as the blonde shinobi cried for his fallen ally. Naruto still sat there, holding Hinata. His body shaking in anger and sadness.

"She struck me with a single blow." Haku said. "She risked it all and sacrificed herself to save you. A true shinobi, worthy of the utmost respect. She did it knowing full well it was a trap…" He paused as he watched Naruto set Hinata's body down gently, still looking at her lifeless form. "Is this the first time you've lost an ally?"

"Shut up…" Naruto said as he bit his thumb. "SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU GOD DAMN BASTARD!" He turned around and rose straight to his feet, his blue eyes filled with nothing, but hatred. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!"

Naruto slammed his palm into the ground. Haku's eyes widened with fear as chakra began to pour out of Naruto, and straight into the ground. A rumble began to be heard through out the bridge. Outside of the mirror dome, everyone stopped as they began to feel the hate and chakra. Suddenly, the mirrors exploded in a blast of power. Haku fell straight to the ground, rolling a few feet, but managing to catch himself as he rolled along the ground. He stood up and gazed in awe, as Naruto stood atop a giant red snake. In his arms was Hinata's limp body.

"Amazing…" Kurenai whispered. "To think that he's already able to summon… Just what all has Anko been teaching him?"

Haku drew several senbon needles and prepared himself. Naruto only smirked evilly as the giant red snake shot forward, tackling right into Haku. The attack knocked the boy up into the air, which he quickly managed to right himself as he flew upward. He tossed the hand full of needles at Naruto, who smiled as the red snake simply swiped his tail repelling all the needles away from the blonde. He then swiped his tail back, which plowed straight into Haku, smashing him into the ground. The bridge shook violently as its tail pulled back. Haku moaned in pain as he managed slowly stagger to his knees. He screamed in pain as he attempted to move his left arm, but it didn't move at all, with the exception of a simple sway. It was broken. He felt the pain in his ribs, at least half of which were also broke, and the rest were cracked at the very least. The snake shot forth again, making another attempt to slam its tail into the boy. Haku barely managed to dodge the attack, but was hit by the recoil, as the snake slammed its tail back in the other direction, sending Haku back into the air. Naruto watched in hatred as he plummeted to the ground. Naruto jumped off the snake which disappeared in a puff of smoke and set Hinata on the ground. Haku managed to pull himself to his feet just in time to find Naruto holding him from behind, with a kunai pressed firmly against his neck.

"It's over…" Haku whispered.

"What?" Naruto asked. "What the hell are you going on about?"

"I failed Zabuza-sama… I've failed myself…" Haku said. "Please, finish me. Kill me?"

"Wait, what?" Naruto asked. "You want to die?"

"I told you before…" Haku said. "My goal in life was to protect Zabuza-sama, and do whatever I had to in order to make his goals come to life." He paused as he looked up at Naruto. "In my current state, there is no way I could do either. I'm useless if I can't do this. Kill me…" Naruto froze as he looked back up at Hinata's lifeless body, and then back down at Haku. He put the kunai away and kicked Haku away. Haku looked up at Naruto, confused at his actions. "I just killed your friend… One of the people you care about more than anyone, and you don't kill me? What happened to that pure killer intent that was coming from you before?"

"You didn't beat me, and now you want to die because you may have let Zabuza down in one fight?!" Naruto asked. "What makes that browless wonder so great, huh? He doesn't care who he works for, who gets hurt, or anything!"

"You said you were training earlier to become stronger, correct?" Haku asked. Naruto nodded. "Why was the real reason you were doing that."

"My reason… To gain respect." Naruto said. "To be able to show the village I live in that I'm not just some monster or a loser, but…"

"I see… Tell me, Naruto… If you had someone who did more than that. If there was one person in particular who acknowledged your existence beyond what the others did, and even went as far as to love you and care for you, wouldn't that one person be the most cared for and important person in your life?" he asked. Naruto's eyes widened as images of his mother started to show up in his head. Anko was that person, even before he became a Genin, before he even trained to be one, she was that person who cared that much, even after he learned he had Kyuubi in him, her thoughts of him never changed. "I can tell from the look on your face that there is someone like that to you. It is the same for Zabuza-sama and I… He took me in and raised me, when no one else cared. When everyone else hated me because of my kekkei genkai… He overlooked it… Cherished it… Wanted it… I was so happy!"

"Haku…" Naruto whispered.

"Please, Naruto… Take my life!" Haku said.

"There's no other way?" Naruto asked. "I have to kill you?"

"I'm sorry, because of me, you'll have to bloody your hands." Haku replied.

He watched as Naruto pulled a kunai back out and held it tightly in his hands. Naruto took a deep breath, and began to run forward towards the boy. It was then that Haku gazed up at the area where Kurenai and Zabuza were engaged in battle. The Genjutsu mistress had returned her attention to the swordsman, and was running towards him with ready to stab him in the heart with a kunai. Haku's eyes widened as he grabbed Naruto's arm at the last minute.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I can't die yet!" Haku shouted.

He shot forth and dashed straight for Kurenai and Zabuza. Naruto realized what was going on and chased straight after him. He made several hand signs and shot his arms out as two snakes shot out of the sleeves of his trench coat. The long snakes managed to grab a hold of Haku's arm, causing him to stop dead in his tracks, and grabbed on to the arm that held the kunai on Kurenai, causing her attack on Zabuza to stop as well. Everyone gazed at the blonde who held both snakes in his hands, pulling both the shinobi hunter and the Genjutsu Mistress back.

"Naruto! What are you doing?!" Kurenai asked.

"I don't know who is right, and who is wrong…" Naruto said. "My oka-san told me though, that killing for the sake of killing isn't right. I don't think that Zabuza or Haku want to kill anyone here, and I know that you and Shino don't either."

"Naruto…" Kurenai whispered. The tree disappeared and Zabuza dropped to the ground.

"That's real cute, kid…" a voice said from behind them. Everyone turned to see Gato and his army waiting behind them. The short, ugly business man smirked at them. "I see you and Haku failed again… Looks like I was right just to come and take care of this myself."

"Friends of yours?" Kurenai asked back to Zabuza.

"Hardly…" he replied while shakily grabbing a hold of his sword.

"Zabuza-sama?" Haku asked.

"No more, kid." Zabuza said. "You ain't in the shape to handle this."

"Neither are you…" Kurenai pointed out.

"True…" Zabuza said as he prepared himself to run forward. "But I'm older. Much older. Haku's got a life ahead of himself, so I figure it's my job to be the sacrifice…"

"No… There's got to be…" Haku began only to be knocked out from behind.

"Lady…" Zabuza said. "Take care of him. I won't be coming back from this alive…"

He said not another word. He simply charging forth straight towards Gato. The business man turned and ran to the back of his army, but that didn't stop Zabuza. He began to hack through the men. His attacks didn't go unnoticed though, in fact, he took several deadly blows to his already wounded and exhausted body. Kurenai realized that it was pure hate for Gato that was keeping him alive now. Eventually, Gato ran out of places to run, and found himself trapped against a wall. Zabuza smiled as he swung his sword one final time. Gato's body was sliced in half, and he fell to the ground dead. Zabuza dropped his sword to the ground afterwards, he closed his eyes, and died right afterwards.

"Zabuza-sama…" Haku whispered. He fell to his knees as he looked at his dead master's body.

"That freak killed Gato…" one of the men in Gato's army said.

"They killed our pay check!" another said.

"What are we gonna do now?!" another asked.

"What else?! We kill these guys, and then go loot the town for anything we can find!" the last one said.

"I think not…" Shino said as he walked forward.

"What are you going to do kid?" one of them asked as they laughed at Shino.

The boy did nothing, but simply extended his arms forward once again. A mass of bugs began to fly out of his sleeves, crawl out of the collar of his coat, anywhere. The sight of so many bugs coming at them at once began to drive them into a panic, especially when they began to drain the life force of the people they attached themselves too. The army began to charge for Shino, only to be surrounded by a massive red snake. Naruto smiled as the snake dove for them, causing them to literally piss their pants, and run, never to be seen again.

"It's over…" Naruto said with a sigh of relief. That was when he caught eye of Hinata. His eyes widened as he noticed a slight breathing motion. "She's alive…" he whispered as he ran to her. "Hinata-chan, you're alive!" He hugged her tightly, causing her to moan a little in pain.

"Naruto-kun… Too tight…" she managed to whisper out.

"Hinata-chan!" he cried as he sat her down carefully. "I'm sorry!"

"It's… It's fine…" she said with a faint smile.

"So you didn't kill her after all…" Kurenai said to Haku.

"I couldn't…" he replied. "Naruto reminded me so much of myself… I couldn't bring myself to do it…"

"Haku, about Zabuza…" Kurenai began.

"I will take care of him…" he replied as he walked towards the corpse. He arms began to glow with a green chakra, and suddenly he was able to move his arms once more. He gently lifted his corpse up and sighed.

"Haku…" Shino said. "Where will you go now?"

"I need to think for a bit." he replied quietly.

"You could come back to Konoha with us…" Naruto replied. "Your skills would be awesome to have there."

"Maybe…" Haku said. "But not yet. There are things I need to think about."

"But---" Naruto began, only to have his mouth covered by Kurenai.

"Go on, Haku." Kurenai said. "Take all the time you need, and when you are ready, know that Konoha will be there to welcome you." Haku nodded and disappeared into the fading mist. Naruto watched as he left before looking up at his sensei confused. Kurenai put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. "His life has taken a huge turn, Naruto. It is not our place to choose what he should do for him. Haku needs time to grieve, and to think things through. When, and if he's ready, we may see him again one day. But not before or after."

The team stayed in Mist long enough to fully recover, and for the bridge to be completed. The team had completed their first high ranked mission, and had definitely become stronger during it. She smiled to herself as she thought about an upcoming event in Konoha soon… Her team just maybe ready for it…

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Fun, fun, fun! I got the flu in the middle of writing this chapter. (Sneezes) Anyways, the next chapter begins my favorite story arc in the series, so read, review, and I'll see ya next time. DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!!


	12. The Next Step

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANYONE ELSE!

The Pairing Votes So Far:

Ino- 3

Tenten- 5

Temari- 8

Ino and Temari- 15

Ino and Tenten- 18

Temari and Tenten- 28

Voting Ends In Next Chapter. Feel Free To Vote Again!

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"GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE YOU FUCKING NINE-LIVED FREAK!" Naruto shouted as he jumped for a certain cat that always ran away from a certain woman who was married to the lord of the Land of Fire.

Life had begun to go back to normal Squad Eight after they returned from the Land of Waves. After such a mission, Kurenai, as well as the Hokage felt that getting some D-Ranks for a while would suffice for the team. As much as Naruto hated them, he could use a break, for one or two missions. Yet, when the team found themselves on about the fifth cat retrieval mission, the blonde was getting testy to say the least. He ran after the cat and literally jumped on top of him, causing the feline to panic, squirm around in his arms, and claw his face. The cat calmed down as Hinata took it away from Naruto, who muttered under his breath as they returned the feline to the Hokage's Tower where its owner was waiting. The three Genin left the tower, as Kurenai handed in a report on their missions they ran that day.

"Been pretty busy lately?" Iruka asked as he took the report from her.

"More or less…" Kurenai replied. "Then again, when you have the son of Anko around, things tend to be a little more interesting than normal."

"How is the little hellion? Getting along well with his team?" Iruka asked.

"For the most part. He and Hinata are almost inseparable, but then again that's expected since they've known each other for so long. His relationship with Shino Aburame gave a fear that the two wouldn't get along at all, but they seem to be hitting it off as well." she replied.

"You know your team has been doing a lot of D-Rank missions lately since they got back from Wave… Sure you're not pushing them to hard?" Iruka asked.

"Sure you're not scared that they'll soon be the same rank as you?" she asked back.

"I'm sorry?" he replied.

"Nothing…" Kurenai responded. "Anyways, I'm going to go wait in the break room for a bit, seeing as how Hokage-sama says there'll be a meeting in about an hour."

Naruto happily slurped his third bowl of ramen. There was nothing like a little post-lunch, pre-dinner ramen snack in his mind. He smiled at the old man as he tossed some money onto the counter, and walked out to get some air. These lousy D-Rank missions were boring as hell. He couldn't wait for another mission like that at Wave. Then again, having some company would've been good too. Unfortunately, Hinata had a clan meeting, Lee and Tenten were still training with their squad, and Shino was in a meeting with his clan. There was his Oka-san, but she was busy in the Hokage Tower and such all day, and the last time he decided to hang around there, he ended up doing her share of paperwork. He trudged along the road from the ramen stand that led to the Forest of Death, when he heard a faint sound from behind. He sighed as he turned around and came face to face with a square shaped rock.

"Konohamaru, rocks aren't perfect squares like that." Naruto muttered.

As if it had happened before, the box-shaped rock was tossed up into the air. From underneath it, climbed three kids, who just so happened to call themselves the Konohamaru Squad. The first member was of course, Konohamaru, who just so happened to be the Sandaime's grandson. The next member's name was Moegi, a small girl with bright orange hair that she kept in pigtails. The final member was a boy with glasses by the name of Udon. He was the shortest, though that wasn't saying much, and looked like he had no idea what a tissue was so he could blow his constantly running nose.

"What are you guys doing here?" Naruto asked.

"Did you forget?" Konohamaru asked. "You promised you'd play ninja with us this week."

"Did I promise that?" Naruto asked. "Doesn't sound like something I'd do…"

"Naruto!" all three shouted.

"You're not gonna leave me alone until we do this, are ya?" Naruto asked. All three shook their heads proudly. "All right, let's do this…"

"Do what?" a female voice asked. " Isn't it a little weird for a ninja to be playing ninja?"

Naruto and the kids looked up to see Tenten smiling at them while trying to hold back from laughing at the thought of Naruto babysitting a bunch of kids. She had her hair pulled up in two buns like always. Her headband was tied around her forehead. She was wearing a pair of green capri pants, with a sleeveless pink, Chinese-styled shirt, and a pair of blue shinobi sandals.

"Hey there, Ten-chan!" Naruto smiled. "Um… What's up?"

"Not much, just got done with some training is all." she replied. "Gai-sensei is good at running us into the ground, always going on about the power of youth… Then Lee goes on about it… Ick…"

"Hey, Naruto!" Konohamaru asked. "Who's the babe, huh? Is she your girlfriend or something? She's got a pretty face, but she could use more in the rack and caboose department, ya know?"

Naruto froze in his tracks. Slowly, the blonde looked up to Tenten, her face turned red. Her hand reached into her pocket and pulling out a kunai. Her eyes seemed to turn blood red. The blonde turned back to the Konohamaru Corps, and looked them dead in the eye.

"Run… Now." was all he said. The kids took off with Naruto close behind, and Tenten on his heels with pure killer intent radiating from her. The kids and Naruto ran for all they had as kunai and shuriken came flying at them from behind. Naruto smiled as the path split into two ways. "Split up, now!" The kids followed, Udon and Moegi going right and Naruto and Konohamaru going left. Unfortunately for Naruto, Tenten went left too.

"You better run like hell, Mitarashi!" Tenten shouted as Naruto narrowly dodged another kunai.

The girl had killer aim. Konohamaru turned around to look back, just in time to run straight into another person. Naruto skidded to a stop, as did Tenten. Before them was a boy and a girl, both shinobi judging from the headbands on them. The boy was wearing solid black. He had purple paint lines across his face, and a hood over his head that looked like cat ears. Attached to his back was a strange bandaged up thing… Naruto and the others couldn't tell what it was. The girl had blonde hair the same color as him. She wore a short purple dress outfit, with fishnets underneath. Strapped across her back was a large fan. Her hair was done up into four pig tails, two on top and two on the bottom. The boy reached down and picked up Konohamaru, glaring at him with a smirk across his face.

Meanwhile, across town, various Jonin and Chunin were in the Hokage's office where the meeting was taking place. Most of the Jonin there were the ones in charge of Genin squads, the most particular of which, happened to be the ones in charge of this year's rookie teams. The Hokage lit his pipe and cleared his throat before addressing the crowd.

"Seeing as how all who were invited into this meeting are here now, we finally begin to discuss them." the old man said.

"I see… So it's time for the Chunin Exams already?" a Jonin asked from the back of the room. "I thought I was seeing a few more foreign ninja coming through the gates today than normal."

"Correct." the Hokage said. "The day after tomorrow, on the first of July, we shall begin the examinations for the promotion to the rank of Chunin. That being said, let's hear from those responsible for overseeing our newest Genin." At the sound of this, Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai all three walked forward. "Jonin Sensei Kakashi Hatake, Kurenai Yuhi, and Asuma Sarutobi, do you have among your charges, any Genin you recommend for the Chunin Exams? Keep in mind that they must have completed a minimum of eight missions. Other than that, use your own judgment as to whether they are ready to aspire to the next level."

_"There's no way any of these three will recommend any Genin for the exams."_ Iruka thought. _"It's way too early for any of them."_

"Kakashi Hatake, leader of Squad Seven, which consists of Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka, and Ino Yamanaka. I vow on my name and the honor of my clan, the Hatake, that all three of them are ready for the Chunin Exam." Kakashi said.

"What?" Iruka whispered in shock.

"Asuma Sarutobi, leader of Squad Ten, which consists of Sakura Haruno, Choji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara. I vow on my name and the honor of my clan, the Sarutobi, that all three my Genin are ready for the Chunin Exam." Asuma said as he puffed on his cigarette.

"Kurenai Yuhi, leader of Squad Eight, consisting of Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, and Naruto Mitarashi." Kurenai began. She paused as she heard a few people mumbling at the naming of the last Genin. "I vow on my name and the honor of my clan, the Yuhi, that all the Genin in my squad are ready for the Chunin Exam."

"NO!" A random Chunin in the room. Everyone turned to look at him. "There's no way we can let the demon take the exams! He shouldn't have even been let into the academy to begin with!"

Before he could even blink, the said Chunin was being held to point by three people in particular. Kakashi had a kunai held at his stomach, Kurenai at his neck, and Anko at his… plumbing. Anko leaned forward until her face was right against his, slowly pushing her kunai closer to its target.

"I will give you ONE warning, not only did you just violate the Hokage's law, but that is MY son you're talking about. If I ever see you speak about him, look at him, THINK about him, I will make sure that you never get to have ONE child, you got that piss-ant?!" Anko whispered.

The Chunin nodded, and all three shinobi released him. He immediately fell back into the arms of the ANBU, who carried him out of the room. The Hokage cleared his throat, and sighed.

"Is there anyone else who has any objections?" the Third asked.

"I'm sorry, but I have to say something." Iruka said as he walked forward. "None of the Genin that were named are ready for an exam like this yet! All nine of them were students of mine back at the academy, and while they may show promise and potential, they are all far too young to be stepping up to the Chunin level yet. Only with time will they obtain the maturity and skill required to pass the exams."

"Now, Iruka…" Kakashi said as he walked forward. "I was six years younger than the rookies when I obtained the rank of Chunin."

"I didn't ask about you!" Iruka replied. "These kids aren't like you!"

"That doesn't matter to you anymore, Iruka." Kurenai replied as she walked back to the front where the others waited. "I understand that you still care about them, but the minute you allowed them to pass on to the rank of Genin, they were no longer your students, but soldiers under our command."

"But…" Iruka began.

"No buts…" Asuma said. "Get over your problems, and deal with the fact that the kiddies are growing up."

The boy in black looked Konohamaru over in his hands. He pulled tightly on the end of his scarf as he smirked evilly. The small boy gulped in fear, something that the older boy who held him seemed to relish.

"That kinda hurt, ya little snot-face." the boy in black said.

"Will you just let him go…" the blonde girl beside him said. "You're just going to piss you know who off!"

"Look, we were just fooling around!" Tenten said apologetically. "Please put him down."

"In a minute!" the boy in black replied. "I just wanna have some fun with him while we're waiting for the annoyance to get here." He looked back to Konohamaru and grinned. "Besides I'm allergic to shrimp, so I should get rid of this one here, and then I'll get you two jumbo ones."

He reached up and bawled his hand into a fist and began to send it down to Konohamaru. Suddenly, the boy in black found himself unable to move his arm. He looked up to see a snake wrapped around it, and he followed the snake all the way to the sleeves of Naruto's trench coat.

"I'll give you three seconds to put him down before I rip your arm off." Naruto said as he began to pull the snake.

"Better do it, Kankuro…" the blonde girl said. "He looks like he could do it."

"Tch… Like he could…" Kankuro said back. Naruto grabbed the snake harder and began to pull. Kankuro winced in pain as he tried to keep hold of the boy. "Damn it!" he shouted as he dropped Konohamaru. The small boy ran from Konohamaru and hid behind Naruto's leg. "You little bitch…" Kankuro muttered. He sat his bandaged bundle on the ground and smiled. "Time to kick your ass."

"Kankuro… You're being ridiculous!" the blonde girl said.

"I don't care." Kankuro said to them all. "I'm going to beat the crap out of all of you." He turned back and looked at the blonde girl. "Stand back, Temari."

"Kankuro, that's enough!" Temari replied.

"Stop it…" an eerie voice said. Everyone paused and looked up towards a tree to see a red haired, green eyed, pale skinned boy standing upside down on a tree limb. He had thick, black circles around his eyes, a giant gourd strapped to his back, and the kanji for love tattooed on his forehead. "You're a disgrace to our entire village."

"Gaara… I can explain!" Kankuro begged.

"Shut up, or I'll kill you…" he replied. "To think that you would get into a fight with a bunch of kids…"

"But Gaara, they bumped into me first! I just…" Kankuro began.

Gaara simply glared at Kankuro, causing him to shut up immediately. He glared back down at Naruto and Tenten and jumped down the tree, landing on the ground gracefully. He turned around and looked at the two Konoha Genin before walking back towards Temari and Kankuro.

"I apologize for the trouble my siblings caused…" he said as they began to leave.

"Wait a minute…" Naruto said.

"What?" Gaara asked as they stopped.

"Those headbands… I remember that emblem on them now. You guys are from Sunagakure, right? Suna and Konoha are allies, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked back.

"Yeah… You're not even supposed to cross the boarder without proper authorization." Tenten added.

"We are allowed to be here." Temari said as she pulled out a passport. "We're three Genin from Suna here to take the Chunin Exams."

"It's time for those again?" Naruto asked. "That explains where oka-san was going in such a hurry today."

"What are you talking about?" Tenten asked.

"The Chunin Exams are kinda like the Genin Exam." Naruto said. "Basically, they're exams that promote Genin to the rank of Chunin. Ninja from all over show up to take the exam, you know from places like Suna, Konoha, Kiri…"

"Right." Kankuro said. "And we need to go check in now, so buzz off…"

The three turned to walk away again. However, this time Gaara paused. He put his hand up to his forehead, as if he had a headache or something. He closed his eyes for a brief moment before he turned back to face Naruto.

"You… What's your name?" he asked.

"Me? I'm Naruto, Naruto Mitarashi. And you are?" Naruto answered.

"Gaara…" was all he replied before turning back and walking off.

"What a group of freaks…" Tenten whispered.

"You think that about anyone you don't know." the blonde replied back. "Gaara, huh? There's something interesting about that guy… Not to mention his sister is kinda hot too…"

"Naruto!" Tenten called. "You there?"

"I'm fine!" he smiled. "Think I'll head home now. Konohamaru, we'll play ninja some other time, ok?"

Before Konohamaru could even respond, Naruto was up in the trees and heading for the Forest of Death to his home. He didn't even bother to read the note from Anko that was sitting on a table, as it usually said the same thing every night. That being that she was going out drinking and would be back later. He wanted to ask her about the Chunin Exams, but decided to wait to talk to her tomorrow morning after his squad's meeting, when she would be sober. Before he knew it, the next morning had come, and his team waited at there usual meeting spot in a teashop that Kurenai frequented quite often.

"She's late…" Shino said as he sipped some tea.

"Tell me about it…" Naruto said as he drummed his fingers on top of the table.

"I'm sure she'll be here soon." Hinata said.

Sure enough, as soon as Hinata had uttered those words, Kurenai walked into the shop. She spotted her team and sat down at their table, ordering a cup of tea for herself. She greeted the squad and they greeted her back, she then handed them three sheets of paper.

"Sorry I'm late." she said to them. "I had to stop by the Hokage's tower to pick these forms up."

"Ano, Kurenai-sensei? What are these?" Hinata asked.

"No way!" Naruto shouted excitedly. "These are applications for the Chunin Exams!"

"Indeed…" Shino replied as he looked the form over.

"Yes, as you no doubt have all guessed, I recommended you for the Chunin Exams." Kurenai said. "All you have to do is fill out these applications."

"Is it required for us to do so?" Shino asked.

"No." Kurenai replied. "Not a single one of you has to take Chunin Exams if you don't want to. This is a decision that you should not take lightly. I want all three of you to think it over carefully. If you do decided to take the exam, then please report to Room 301 in the Ninja Academy tomorrow afternoon at four. There will be no training today, so use your time to think about this."

As soon as she drank her tea, Kurenai disappeared in a whirl of leaves, leaving the team alone. They had thought about heading to their homes, but instead opted to just hangout instead. They made their way to a small pond in the park and just sat by the water being quiet.

"The Chunin Exams, huh?" Naruto said as he looked back the paper in his hands.

"Are you going to enter?" Shino asked.

"Of course!" Naruto replied. "You'd have to be stupid not to take an opportunity like this!"

"Would you?" Shino asked back. "Or would you be making a smart move?"

"What do you mean, Shino-kun?" Hinata asked.

"I've heard that the Chunin Exams have been the breaking point for many hopeful Genin." Shino replied. "The Exams tend to be a dangerous time indeed, some ninja become so scared during the test, they quit the path of a shinobi all together. Some of them have even died."

"D-died?" Hinata asked.

"That is why Kurenai-sensei asked us to think it over carefully." Shino concluded. "Taking this test is a life altering decision on many levels." Shino rose to his feet and began to walk off, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I'm going to think this over some more alone. Before I leave, I want you both to know that if either one of you don't show up tomorrow, I will not think any less of you. You are both valuable comrades… Friends."

He walked off leaving both Naruto and Hinata on their own. Both Genin looked at each other, before rising to their feet and following Shino's example. Hinata returned to the Hyuuga complex to do her thinking, and Naruto returned to the tower. As he went inside, he saw Anko sitting in a simple robe reading on the couch. She smiled at him as he walked inside.

"How'd your meeting go, squirt?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh… Fine." Naruto replied.

"Doesn't sound like it went fine." Anko said as she stood up and walked over to the boy. "What's up?"

"Kurenai-sensei showed up to the meeting today with these." he said showing her the application to the Chunin Exam.

"Chunin Exam, huh?" she asked with a smirk. "Seems like yesterday I was still letting you sleep beside me because you were scared of the dark."

"S-shut up…" Naruto replied with a blush.

"What's wrong, gaki? I thought you'd have jumped at a chance like this." Anko asked.

"I am excited… Or was anyways…" Naruto muttered.

"What's up, Naruto?" his mother asked back.

"It's just… This could be my one shot, ya know? To show everyone in the village I'm not just some demon, or a dobe… But to show them that I'm an awesome shinobi worthy of their respect." he replied.

"Then what are you waiting for? Sign that form and go kick some ass!" she said.

"What if I fail? They'll all think they were right, and I'm just…" Naruto began to go on.

"Naruto, you are my son. You have good friends who would do anything for you. No matter how you do, you'll always have the respect of them." Anko said.

"Oka-san…" Naruto muttered.

"Besides, you're a Mitarashi! One of the greatest clans Konoha knows! Now go show the village just what kinda of dynamic, hell rising ninja you are!"

"Thanks, oka-san." Naruto smiled as he grabbed a pen and started to fill out the form.

Hinata stared quietly at the meal that was before her. She light drug her chopsticks through the curry, her mind focusing solely on the application for the Chunin Exams. She normally didn't say much during dinner and other meals, but Hiashi noticed that she seemed even more quiet and reclusive than normal. As he finished his meal, he stood up and looked over to the Hyuuga heiress.

"Hinata." he called. The startled girl looked up at him in surprise. "Come to my study after dinner. I wish to speak to you alone."

"Hai." she said quietly as she finally began to eat her curry. After her meal, she made her way to the specified area, knocking on the door gently. "Oto-san?"

"Come in." he replied from behind the door. Hinata entered at sat down in a chair that was in front of the desk where Hiashi sat. He closed the book before he looked up at Hinata and cleared his throat. "You seemed distracted during your training afternoon. I admit that after you completed you mission to Wave, you actually began performing a lot better in training and sparring. Just the other day you managed to beat Hanabi in all three matches you normally have. Today though, you began to vaguely remind me of the way you were before the mission, the way you were before becoming a Genin. What is on your mind that's causing you to space out so much?"

Hinata reached into her pocket and pulled out the application form. She carefully handed it to Hiashi, who looked it over. A small sparkle seemed to light up in his eye, one that Hinata had seen only in her dreams. It looked like he was proud of her for just a moment, before regaining his normal, cold, stern face.

"Oto-san?" she asked.

"The Chunin Exams…" Hiashi said. "Very interesting. You're taking them a full year earlier than your cousin Neji. To even be recommended for such a test must prove that you have advanced farther than I thought you would in such a short amount of time."

"Oto-san…" Hinata said as she felt a shade of blush rising to her face, hearing her father actually talk well of her.

"I'm proud of Hinata." Hiashi said. "You are progressing quickly. I think you should take the exam. You are more than ready I believe. Take the exam, and make the Main Branch proud."

He left the room, leaving Hinata alone with the form. She looked back down at it, holding it close. Her father, the man who normally only spoke of what a disappointment she was, talked proudly of her. He was impressed with her progress. The day she was finally dreaming of was here. She couldn't just not take the exam now. She took a pen from the desk, and began to fill the application out.

Shino sat before his father at the table in the dinning room. They were both having there after dinner tea, a tradition that the two have done for years now. It was usually a quiet occasion. Although, that didn't say much for the Aburame clan. They usually quiet to begin with. Shino sat his tea on the table, thinking back to the application for the Chunin Exams.

"Oto-san… I was given an application for the Chunin Exams today." Shino said.

"I see…" his father, Shibi Aburame replied.

"I've been thinking this over carefully for the afternoon, and I think I'm going to sign up." Shino responded.

"Hn…" he replied.

"I wanted to ask if you believe my skills are up to the challenge." Shino said.

"Shino, you are one of the finest shinobi to come from our clan for sometime." Shibi said. "I have no doubt in my mind that you can handle the exam with flying colors. You've proven to be an asset to the clan, and a valuable comrade to your teammates. However, this doesn't mean that you will let us down if you do not become a Chunin. As long as you do the best you can, you will be making us proud."

Sooner then they had expected, the next day came. Naruto, Hinata, and Shino found themselves at the Ninja Academy around four in the afternoon, like they were supposed to be. All three looked a little apprehensive, and yet they were all glad to see that they all decided to take the exams. They all three looked at each other, before heading inside and to the floor where the exams would take place. They reached a floor that had an interesting sight. There were several groups of Genin standing outside of a door. The said door was being blocked by two shinobi, who were refusing to let anyone else in. Two of the people that caught Naruto's eyes the most, were Lee and Tenten. Lee was on the floor, rubbing a bruise on the side of his face, while Tenten was by his side, checking to see if he was alright.

"You weaklings really want to take the Chunin Exams?" one of the shinobi in front of the door that said Room 301 on it. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Please, let us through." Tenten said. "We have to take the exam!"

One of the men blocking the door reached out and punched her across the face hard. The girl began to fall to the floor, only to be caught by Naruto who had a kunai pressed right against the face of the man that hit her. He stared him straight in the eyes with pure killer intent.

"Apologize, or I will kill you." Naruto said.

"Like to see you try…" the man said.

Naruto jumped back and gently put Tenten on the ground. He then charged forward with a kick, as did the shinobi who hit her. Suddenly, Lee showed up in between both of them, managing to catch both of their kicks easily. The most noticeable thing about Lee, was that all the bruises he had earlier were gone.

"Heh… All healed up, Lee?" Naruto asked.

"You know me well, Naruto-kun." the boy replied.

"Regardless of who did what…" a voice said. Everyone turned to see Sasuke smirking with his team of Kiba and Ino right behind him. "I suggest you drop the genjutsu on the door and let us through."

"You are the rookie of the year?" Shino suddenly asked him.

"Shino?" Sasuke said looking at him.

"If you were, you would've known that this was obviously a ploy to weed out the weaker candidates for the exam. Of course, because you had to open your mouth about the door and such, now there will be even more competition for us to go through during the exams." Shino put his hands in his pockets and began to leave with Hinata and Naruto, who bid farewell to Lee and Tenten after checking if they were ok. Shino smiled as he looked back. "To think that they called Naruto a dobe…"

They didn't stick around long enough to hear Ino whine about the disrespect just showed to the great Sasuke, or Kiba laughing his ass off at the Uchiha being told off by the quietest kid in their class. Squad Seven walked by the others and into the doors. Lee smiled as he said he was going to make a bathroom run, and went up the stairs too. Tenten looked back over at her third teammate, who had been quiet this whole time. He wore dark brown shorts, a cream colored shirt, and had long brown hair he pulled back into a low ponytail. The most noticeable thing on him, were his pale, pupil-less eyes.

"Neji, are you alright?" Tenten asked.

"Fine." the Hyuuga replied. "Just fine." He walked past the other two an began to head up to the third floor. Tenten soon followed.. "So… Hinata-chan is taking the exams… This should be fun indeed…"

Eventually, Naruto, Hinata, and Shino reached the doors to the real Room 301. Their eyes widened as they saw Kurenai leaning against the wall waiting on them to show up. A smile graced her lips as she saw all three members of the squad approach her. She stood up straight and walked the rest of the way to them.

"Good to see that you all made it." she said. "Now you all qualify for the Chunin Exams."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"All three of us are required for the exams, aren't we?" Shino asked.

"Correct, Shino." Kurenai said. "The test is set up to be taken in three person teams. The reason why I essentially lied to you, and told you that the choice was up to you take the exam, was because I didn't want you to feel pressured by your teammates to take the test. No offense meant, but if Naruto would have told you to take the test, even if you didn't want to, chances are you would've done so anyway."

"What would've happened if one or two of us didn't show?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

"I'd have turned you away." Kurenai replied. "None of you would've been allowed past this point without the others. But, you're all here, and of your own will. I'm proud of you all. Go in there, and show them why Squad Eight is the best one in Konoha." The three Genin looked at each other and nodded. A smile was obvious on all their faces, even Shino. Naruto walked forward and opened the doors.

"Shino, Hinata!" Naruto said. "Let's go kick some ass!"

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The Chunin Exams are here. The first test will be in the next chapter, which also reunites all of the rookie nine for the first time since they graduated. Has anyone changed since then? Find out in the next chapter. Don't forget that this is the last chapter to vote on Naruto's pairing, so vote like the wind. Read, review, and I'll see you all next time.


	13. The First Exam

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANYONE ELSE!

I'm amazed. The story has now been in existence for a little under half a year now, and I want to thank you all for the success it has become. I really mean it guys, this wouldn't have been possible without you! Thank you all for your support so far!

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Naruto, Hinata, and Shino were in total awe at the sight in front of them. The classroom was literally swimming with Genin. They all came representing many areas, including Kiri, Konoha, Suna, ect. All of them seemed to look up as the three kids walked in, only to look back down in disappointment, as if they were expecting someone else. Naruto couldn't help, but whistle at the sight.

"There s-sure are a lot of them…" Hinata said.

"Just more for us to beat in the ground!" Naruto replied as he gave her a thumbs up.

"Naruto…" Shino sighed. "Don't draw attention to us… The best thing to do now is lay low and blend in."

"Really, dobe!" an unfortunately familiar voice called. Squad Eight turned around just in time to see Sakura, Shikamaru, and Choji walk up to them. Shikamaru looked completely bored with the desire to be somewhere, anywhere else. Choji was munching on a bag of chips as always. Sakura was disappointed to see that the team who walked in wasn't the one that had Sasuke in it. "What the hell are you doing here anyways, Naruto? There's no way a dobe like you could handle a test like this."

"If you all can be here, so can we." Naruto replied. "I mean, what was your major skill, Haruno? Stalking Sasuke?"

No sooner had Naruto mentioned Sasuke's name, did his team walk in the door. Sakura immediately pushed Naruto out of the way, and tackled the Uchiha, hugging him around the neck tightly. It was then that Naruto and the others noticed the bruises on him. Naruto smiled as it was obvious that someone just beat the shit out of him.

"Sasuke-kun, what happened to you?!" Sakura asked.

"Hands off, Billboard Brow!" Ino said as she shoved Sakura off of Sasuke. "Why would Sasuke-kun want someone with a mutant forehead to touch him when he can have someone like me?"

"What did you say, pig?!" Sakura asked back.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru said.

"Well, it looks like all three of this year's rookie teams decided to apply for the exams." Kiba said.

"Including you, unfortunately…" Naruto said while eyeing Kiba. "I wonder how far we'll get. What do you think, Sasuke? And by the way, who the hell beat the shit out of you?"

"Some freak in green spandex and bushy eyebrows challenged him to a fight; one that he got his ass completely beat in!" Kiba said while trying to fight back a laugh. He was quickly whacked on the back of the head by Ino and Sakura. Naruto smiled while cheering on Lee in his mind.

"BAKA!" Ino shouted. "Sasuke-kun just got blind sighted, that's all! Besides, at least he wasn't taken down in one hit!"

"One hit?" Naruto asked. "Damn, Kiba! You think that your team is ready for the exams when both of its strongest members got taken down by one guy?!"

"Excuse me." a voice said. All nine kids turned around and saw a Konoha Genin walk towards them. He was wearing a pair of glasses, with a gray shirt and a gray pair of pants. He also wore gray fingerless gloves and shinobi sandals. He ran a hand through his silver hair as he smiled at them. "You guys are all rookie Genin, right? Kids fresh out of the academy?"

"Maybe… What's it to ya?" Kiba asked.

"I take that as a yes." the boy replied. "Take it from someone who has taken this test a few times. Stop drawing attention to yourselves so much, especially if you want to live." Sure enough, when the rookie nine gazed about the room, a majority of the other Genin there were glaring right at them. "I'm not trying to be mean or anything, just trying to give you some friendly advice. Most of the people in this room are waiting to take the first exam, and are kind of on edge. Just thought I'd give you a heads-up before someone snaps and kills you guys."

"Who are you anyways?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh, how rude of me." the boy replied. "My name is Kabuto Yakushi."

"Kabuto… You said you've taken this test a few times?" Choji asked. "Like, how many times?"

"This will be my seventh." Kabuto answered. "I've taken it twice a year for going on four years now."

"And you still haven't passed? What do you suck that bad or something?" Kiba asked, only to get hit in the back of the head by Ino again.

"I apologize for my friend." Ino said. "He doesn't get enough oxygen to his brain. What he meant to ask was, is the test that hard?"

"Well they're no walk in the park, if that's what you mean." Kabuto said. "Believe it or not, there are probably people who have tried more than I have and still haven't become Chunin."

"Well, I guess you got some experience on what to expect during this, huh?" Naruto asked.

"That's true." Kabuto said with a smile. "Tell you what… I like you kids, so I'll give you some vital advice with these Shinobi Skill Cards."

"Shinobi Skill Cards?" Sasuke asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Basically, they're cards that I pump chakra into, which then display information depending on what it is I want to see. Take this one for example." Kabuto said. He pulled out a blank card and made several hand signs. He then put his palm down on the back of the card, and then flipped it over to reveal a map on the front with various numbers.

"What kind of card is this?" Choji asked. "It's a combo of a map and graph in one…"

"This particular card shows how many Genin are partaking in the Chunin Exams, and how many are from each nation." Kabuto answered.

"Kabuto, can your cards show on each individual applicant?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh? Do you have interest in a certain applicant?" Kabuto replied. "While it is far from complete, I do have cards that pertain at least some basic information on the Genin from this year's set of applicants. Just give some data you have on the people you wish to know about, and I'll look up what I have in the cards."

"Rock Lee and Naruto Mitarashi from Konoha." Sasuke said immediately.

"What? Why do you want information on the dobe?" Ino asked.

"I gotta admit, I'm curious too, Sasuke…" Naruto replied with a grin. "I always thought with the way you blow off fangirls, that you'd want to get to know guys better over dinner and movie."

"Shut up…" Sasuke replied.

"Alright now, kiddies…" Kabuto said as he drew two cards and put some chakra into them. "Calm down, and I'll let you know what I have…" He picked up the first card and flipped it around. "First up is Rock Lee. He is one year older than all of you. He serves on Squad Nine, along side of his teammates Neji Hyuuga and Tenten Himura. His Jonin instructor is Maito Gai. He has completed 26 D-Ranked missions and 13 C-Ranked. His taijutsu skills are amazing, and have improved drastically over this past year, however he had no other skills worth mentioning. He was a standout among last year's rookies, however he didn't apply for the Chunin Exams until this year, meaning he's a first timer like the rest of you." He put the card back into the deck and then looked at the other one. "Next up is Naruto Mitarashi. He serves on Squad Eight with Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Aburame. His Jonin instructor is Kurenai Yuhi. He has completed 14 D-Ranked missions, and 1 A-Ranked mission. Very unusual for a first year Genin mind you. He was the bottom of the class when he graduated from the academy, however he does have a few higher level jutsu to his disposal, and those who have witnessed his skills close up have reported that he has the potential to rival the rookie of the year, Sasuke Uchiha…"

"Aw shucks…" Naruto said with a blush. "You flatter me!" Everyone seemed to sweat drop at this, and Kabuto cleared his throat to continue.

"This year, there are applications Konoha, Suna, Kiri, Ame, Kusa, Taki, and Oto." Kabuto said. "The villages sent a lot of outstanding Genin this year to participate. I don't know about Otogakure that much since it's relatively new, however the other villages are all well respected, and home to some truly skilled shinobi."

"Does anyone else besides me suddenly feel outclassed?" Choji asked.

_"Just as I thought…"_ Sasuke thought glaring at Naruto. _"He's been holding back, at least a little. There's no way he's stronger than me, but still he is someone to watch out for."_

"So… Are you saying that…" Sakura began.

"Yeah." Kabuto answered. "Most of them are like Lee and Naruto. Either they are incredibly strong, or they've been hiding their true potential, and have been waiting to unleash it here." Everyone other than Hinata and Shino paused and glanced back at Naruto.

"What? Is there something on my face?" he asked.

Everyone sighed at the same time. Naruto couldn't help, but get a kick out of this. Kurenai had been standing outside of the door the whole time, listened as the rookies talked to Kabuto, smiling at Naruto's quick shots to some of the others. She walked away giggling, deciding to see if Kakashi and the others were somewhere in the building. Meanwhile, while back in the room, three Genin from Otogakure were watching the Konoha Genin talk. The first of which was a girl who had long, black hair. She wore a yellow sleeveless shirt, gray camouflage pants and a scarf, and black shinobi sandals and arm bands. Next was a strange looking man. He had most of his face wrapped completely in bandages, except for his eyes. He wore a long gray jacket that had sleeves which covered his arms. He had a large, fuzzy object on his back, and was constantly hunched over. The final member had spiky black hair. He wore a gray camouflage scarf and pants like the girl's, and a yellow shirt with the kanji for death written on it.

"Shall we?" the spiky haired boy asked.

"Let's go." the bandaged one replied.

The three Oto Genin suddenly dashed forward and launched an attack at Kabuto. The one with spiky hair attacked high, throwing some kunai. Kabuto barely managed to jump out of the way coming face to face with the Oto Genin with bandages on his face. He dashed forward with his arm extended and took a swing at Kabuto, that he managed to duck back to avoid. However, when he returned upright, his glasses suddenly shattered.

"He managed to dodge that!" Choji said dropping his chip bag on the ground. "How did his glasses break?!"

"He probably got grazed in the nose…" Shino answered.

"Tch… Serves him right for acting all superior…" Shikamaru replied.

Kabuto looked at his glasses, and then suddenly dropped them to the floor. He fell to his knees, shaking violently and then he began to vomit. Hinata cringed at the sight, and the others stared on in with widened eyes. Even Shino was slightly freaked out by the attack. Naruto and Ino walked forward and helped Kabuto to his feet.

"You alright?" Naruto asked as he and Ino helped him up.

"Yeah…" Kabuto replied. "I'm fine."

"You…" Naruto muttered as he looked up at the three Oto Genin. "What the hell is wrong with you three?!"

"Just checking out some of the competition." the female of the group said. "You know, you're pretty sad for someone who's taken this test for four years now."

"Tell me about it…" the spiky haired Genin added. "If this is the competition this year, then you better add this to your cards. All three of us Genin from Otogakure are going to make Chunin this year."

_"Kabuto dodged that attack clearly…"_ Sasuke thought. _"So what the hell happened to him? Why did he vomit?"_

"Lee… Tenten…" Neji said as he watched the event unfold from a distance. "What did that look like to you?"

"That Kabuto guy definitely dodged the attack." Tenten said.

"So there has to be some trick to it. Something in the attack that made him vomit like that." Lee added.

Suddenly, a large cloud of smoke erupted in the front of the room. As it cleared, a large man appeared in front of a group of Chunin. He was wearing a larger version of Naruto's trench coat, a pair of black gloves and black boots. He wore a gray button up shirt, gray slacks, and a headband combined with a bandana tied on his head. His most standout feature, were the large scars on his face.

"Everyone shut up, now!" he shouted. "You three from Sound. Chill out or you'll be on your asses outside of this building faster than you can blink, got me?!"

"My apologies." the bandaged member of the squad said. "It's our first exam, and we just got a little carried away."

"Is that so…" the large man said. "In that case let me set a ground rule or two for you and any other hotshots thinking they can just do whatever the hell they feel like. From now on all forms of fighting are forbidden, unless the examining officer says otherwise. Even then, anything that directly threatens the life of another applicant's life is still strictly forbidden. Anyone who breaks this rule is outta here. Any questions?" No one said anything, which he assumed allowed him the right to move on. "Alright then, we'll now begin the first examination. Everyone line up here at the desk and turn in your application. We'll then give you one of these seating assignment cards." He paused as he held up a small plastic square with a number on it. "Report to the seat that the card indicates. When everyone is seated, we will hand out the written tests."

_"A written test?"_ Naruto thought. _"Fan-fucking-tastic…"_

The Genin all lined up and turned in their applications. After obtaining their numbers, they went to their assigned seats. Naruto ended up being close to the middle. Shino was closer to the front. Hinata was stuck in the back of the room. He sighed as he was hoping that he could at least be close by to one of them. Naruto wasn't hiding his ability to be bad at written tests. When it came to them, he always just for some reason blanked out, choked, and failed the test. He sighed as he sat down in his chair, watching as the tests were past out. He was suddenly snapped out of thought as he heard someone sit down beside him. He looked up and realized it was the blonde kunoichi from Sunagakure that he met the other day.

"Naruto-kun?" Tenten asked as she sat down. "Well, at least I get to sit beside someone I know… Even if it is you."

"Aw… You know that you can't refuse my charms and natural good looks." he replied with a smirk. He watched as Tenten sat down, who smiled at him as she did so.

"Let's do our best, ok?" she asked. _"He looks good today… Wait, did I just think that?!"_

"Y-yeah…" Naruto replied. _"Has she always been this cute?"_

"Hey, Blondie!" Ibiki shouted, getting Naruto's attention. "Shut up already. I'm gonna go over the rules to the first test, and I refuse to repeat myself. These rules are very important, so pay attention because I'm not going to answer any questions."

_"Rules?"_ Sakura thought. _"It's a written test, what kind of rules do we need to hear for that?"_

"Do not turn your papers until I say so, now let's start. Rule number one, each of you starts with ten points. There are a total of ten questions on the test, each one worth a point each. For every question you get wrong, you will lose one of these points." Ibiki explained. "Next is rule number two. The written test is still a team event. So in light of this, not only do your scores count, but those of your teammates do too. In other words, all three members of you team's points will be linked into one final score. Now, the final rule. If during the exam one of you candidates do anything out of the ordinary, or in other words, leads a proctor into thinking that you're cheating and you get caught, it will cost two points from each member on the cheater's team."

"I get it…" Sakura whispered.

"Bingo, Pinky." Ibiki replied. "There is a good chance that during the exam, most of you will run through the total allotted points. In the event that that occurs, you will be forced to leave. Also, since no team can pass this exam without all three members, when one of you leave, the whole team goes."

There were various murmurs among the crowd as they looked at their tests before them and the Chunin that were scattered about the room. Naruto took a deep breath and felt a shiver run up his spine. He looked up and saw Shino looking over at him from across the room before looking down at his paper.

_"Not good… Despite how his skills are in the field, Naruto never did well on tests. Hopefully there'll be one question he can answer on the test…"_ the bug ninja thought.

"You all have one hour." Ibiki said. "You may begin."

Immediately, the sound of papers flipping and pencils clacking began to fill the room. Naruto sighed in disgust as he flipped his paper over and looked it over. He hated written tests. When someone asked him a question or something, he could answer it with no problem, but when he had to write it down, his mind for some reason would go blank.

_"Alright, Naruto… Calm down… It's just a test. If you can handle a life threatening, incredibly dangerous A-Rank mission, then this should be nothing…"_ he thought to himself. Naruto paused and his widened in surprise as he read the first question. _"What the fuck is this? No basic Genin in this room should be capable of answering his question… Or the second… Or even the third!"_

_"I get it…"_ Shino thought. _"There is no way we should be able to answer these questions, well most of us anyways…"_ He looked ahead of himself and saw Sakura's pencil moving down the paper at a rapid rate. _"Those of us who can't answer the questions on our own have to manage to cheat and collect the answers without getting caught."_ He looked up from the test and noticed Akamaru sitting on the head of his neighboring tester, Kiba, looking around the room and barking quietly. He snickered as he wrote down the answer to one of the questions. _"Alright then… Let's go find some answers."_ Three small bugs crawled out of the sleeves of his jacket and crawled up to his index fingers. "You know what to do…" he whispered to them, before they took off into the air.

_"Shino's using his bugs… Kiba is using Akamaru…"_ Hinata thought. She looked a few seats down and noticed Sasuke's eyes turning Sharingan red. _"Sasuke is using his Sharingan… Looks like you pretty much have to cheat to get the answers…"_ She activated her Byakugan and looked around the room. _"This is good… I can see everyone's test around me. I hope Naruto can think of something though…"_

_"Crap, crap, crap!"_ Naruto thought. _"If I don't manage to get at least one answer, Hinata and Shino are gonna kill me!"_ he paused in his thoughts and looked up around the room. His eyes widened as a bug passed his face. _"That was one of Shino's bugs…"_ Naruto was suddenly caught off guard when a Chunin's voice rang out into the room.

"You, number 27!" he called. Naruto looked to his side to see a Kirigakure Genin looking at the Chunin who called his number. "You're outta here, get your stuff and leave. Numbers 26 and 28, you're gone with him."

The three Kirigakure shinobi left the room. Naruto turned back to his test and stared down at it intently. Ibiki sat there glaring at the boy, trying to think of where he had seen him before. He couldn't place his finger on it, but he had this feeling that he reminded him of someone. He shook the thought out of his head grabbed a seat from behind the teacher's desk in his room. There were still 30 minutes to take the exam in, so he might as well get comfy. Meanwhile, other students continued to attempt to take the test, or use their innate talents to cheat. Shikamaru was using his naturally high I.Q. to answer the test normally. Ino waited until Sakura finished all of her questions, and then used her family's trademark jutsu to take over her body and get all the answers. Afterwards, she returned to her body, she put the answers down on her paper, smirking in satisfaction. Choji didn't have any natural talents to aid him in getting answers, but he did have a best friend in Shikamaru on his team. The said lazy Genin used his shadow jutsus to control the chubby ninja's body and write down the answers. Tenten managed to use kunai, a mirror, and chakra strings to get answers for her test, and help Lee get answers for his test. Kankuro had a puppet disguised as an Examiner to look for answers, the team from Sound was listening for the movements of the pencils against the paper to get the answers, and Gaara manipulated some sand into his hand and it began forming something. Soon it took the shape of an eyeball which Gaara could see out of. He crushed the eye of sand and sent it towards a Genin near him. He used some of the sand to blind the boy before reforming the eye near the test and looked at the answers. He then moved his sand over to his sister's desk and was able to write the answers with sand for her to copy onto her paper.

"Numbers 44, 75, 98... You're out of here, get your teammates and go." a Chunin said.

"Number 11 and 62 beat it, you're done." another one called.

_"Naruto…"_ Tenten thought as she glanced at him. _"He hasn't even made an attempt to answer the questions… Maybe… Maybe I should help him…"_

"Crap… Gotta think of something!" the said blonde whispered.

"Naruto-kun!" Tenten whispered. Naruto looked up from his test and over towards the bun haired girl. "If you want… You can copy some of the answers off of my test…"

"Tenten?"

"I mean, this is a big thing, ya know? I'm… I'm you're friend, so I wanna help you out. I don't want you to have to leave so early."

"Are you hitting on me?" he smirked.

"Baka…" she said while looking away with a blush. "I mean, this is the first time taking the exam for you, me, Lee, and Hinata, you know, the old gang? We need to try to see this through as long as we can!"

"Ok…"

"Here look at my test…" Naruto began to look down, but then his eyes caught those of a Chunin glaring right at him. He sighed in defeat and looked back at Tenten.

"I can't do it, Ten-chan." he told her. She looked surprised at him, and slightly angry, but Naruto went on. "If I get caught, we'll both lose points. If that happens, then in the end both our teams will be out. Don't worry about me, I'll find a way to get the treacherous snakes taken care of, you just go on." Tenten nodded and went back to her test, but Naruto sighed again in defeat and began to think once more._ "A good speech, but now all I've got is honor and a blank test! Wait a minute… What did I say earlier… Snakes?!"_

He couldn't believe how dumb he had been. He made several hand signs and focuses as little chakra as possible, sending three tiny gardner snakes out of his sleeves. He had have to thank his mom later for teaching him this jutsu and how to talk to snakes, but that was later. He simply nodded to the three snakes, and they slithered off around the room. Several moments later, they would return to Naruto and quietly hiss out the answers, before crawling up his sleeve and vanishing from existence. While this was going on, several more teams were dismissed from the room, until finally Ibiki looked around at the remaining students, Naruto in particular. He smiled as he saw one of the snakes crawl up into his sleeves.

_"I thought he looked familiar…"_ Ibiki thought. _"Anko's kid is taking the test this year too… Things will definitely get interesting soon."_

"What's this…" Naruto whispered as he reached the final question. "Wait until the test time is over. At this point, the proctor will give out the final question, which you must then answer?" He paused as he looked up at the clock. Only about three minutes 'til then, guess I'll just chill and wait."

Outside of the academy, on top of the roof, Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma were all relaxing, enjoying the time off they had during the during the Chunin Exams. Much as they were growing attached to the balls of energy known as their students, they welcomed the off time with open arms. Kakashi leaned against the fence, reading his usual orange book, Asuma was gazing at the clouds while having a smoke, and Kurenai was having a light lunch of some dango that Anko brought by before running off to get ready for something. The Genjutsu Mistress wasn't exactly sure what her former teammate was planning, but she felt it was the best if it remained as such. The quiet was slightly relaxing, but all good things come to an end, especially when a whirl of leaves appear in the center of the roof, revealing the one person you really don't want to see.

"Hey everybody! Life treating ya good?!" Maito Gai screamed as he appeared.

"Gai… Don't you think you could tone it down a little bit?" Asuma asked as he gazed over at the man before looking away.

"Asuma, you disappoint me. Your flames of youth are being extinguished much to early for your age!"

"So, what did you come to talk about, Gai?" Kurenai asked.

"I was just wanting to discuss how you think our teams are fairing in the first exam. Surely mine is using their youthful energy to pass with flying colors, unlike my rival's!"

"I'm sorry, did you say something, Gai?" Kakashi asked, barely looking up from his book.

"Curse you and you're coolness Kakashi!" Gai shouted back. "Don't you realize who is giving the first exam this year?"

"I believe it was Ibiki Morino wasn't it?"

"Yes… That sadist is in charge of it this year…"

"You mean the torture and interrogation expert?" Kurenai asked.

"The same one…" Asuma answered. "He probably got some elaborate plan to use to weed as many Genin out as possible at the end. After all, it wouldn't be the first time he's done something like that…"

"The question is whether or not our teams are able to hold their own when that moment comes." Kakashi said. "However, I think they have a good chance, or at least mine do."

Ibiki stood up and walked to the front of the room. The number of students had been drastically reduced from there once was, but in his mind, that was still not enough. He cleared his throat, causing everyone to tense up for a moment. They pretty much figured he was going to give them the last question, so immediately every pencil went down to the final question on the test. What happened instead though, threw them for a loop.

"It's time for the final question." Ibiki announced. "However, before I give it out, there is one final, absolute rule that must be announced first."

_"An absolute rule…"_ Naruto thought. _"Now what the hell is going on?"_

"First…" Ibiki said, you must choose rather or not you accept this question."

"Choose?!" Temari shouted from the back of the room. "You mean this question is optional?!"

"Correct… Know this though. If you choose not to answer the final question, you and your teammates will automatically fail the exams." Ibiki said

"What?!" a Genin from Amegakure shouted. "What kind of idiot would choose not to answer it?"

"One who knows of the other half of this rule." Ibiki shot back. "If you choose to attempt to answer the final question, and get it wrong, then you and your team will still fail the test. Also, you will be banned from ever taking the Chunin Exams again, being forced to remain a Genin forever."

A chill ran through the air at those words. Various whispers were heard among the Genin in the room. The choice had basically came down to either you fail and wait almost a full year, or you fail and never get to do it again. Even Shino was slightly more tense than he was before. Suddenly, Kiba slammed his palms on the table in anger, causing all the attention in the room to be focused on him.

"You gotta be kidding me!" he shouted. "There are plenty of ninja here that have taken this exam more than once, we know there are!"

"Well, I guess you're just shit outta luck, ain't ya?" Ibiki asked with a grin. "I wasn't making the rules in the past, but I am now. Either you take the failing grade, leave now and take the exam next time, or you try, fail, and never take it again. It's your choice."

_"Talk about a no win situation…"_ Sakura thought. _"I kinda feel sick to my stomach now…"_

"Ready? Then let's begin." Ibiki said snapping the pink haired girl out of her thoughts. "Those who do not wish to partake in the final question need only to raise their hand. Once their number has been confirmed, they may leave the room with their number is confirmed."

Almost immediately after saying that, several Genin began to raise their hands and leave. Naruto couldn't believe that the man had shaken them up so bad, all thought truth be told, he had his doubts too. Like all the others, he was faced with a lose-lose situation. He sat quietly, thinking it over, not noticing that Hinata was staring at him with her own confused thoughts.

_"Naruto-kun… He said that this was going to be his big shot, to prove to the whole village that he is worthy of their respect. I can understand why he doesn't want to raise his hand, but if he gets it wrong, his dream will be crushed forever."_ Hinata thought. _"Please, Naruto… Don't play hero this time, just raise your hand! We can always try again next year!"_

_"Man… What am I supposed to do?"_ Naruto thought. _"If I flake out and reject the question, then Shino and Hinata have to pay for me being a chicken, and they'll fail too. If I choose to answer the question and get it wrong, then I'm gonna end up being a worthless Genin forever, and every single one of those villagers will be right!"_

_"He's not raising his hand…"_ Hinata thought as she looked back to her friend and teammate. _"What's wrong, Naruto? Don't you care if your dream of respect and honor is ripped away from you forever?!"_ She watched as more and more teams left, but Naruto remained in his seat, staring down at his test. _"Then again… I'll lose all the respect and honor from my clan if I never get to take this exam again… And Shino could lose something precious to him too. Sorry guys, but if neither of you will quit, then I will. I can't risk you both losing your dreams forever because of me…"_

Hinata shakily began to raise here hand, but then gasped in shock at what she saw happening before her. Shino's eyes widened, though you'd never have seen them past his sunglasses. Lee nearly choked, and Tenten gasped in horror. Naruto had begun to slowly raise his hand, now having it hover just above his head. One of the Chunin proctors began to search for his name, only to come to a stop when Naruto suddenly slammed his palm down upon the table.

"Hell no!" he shouted. "No way in hell am I about to quit! The word is not even in my dictionary, and if it was, I still wouldn't do it! So bring on that last resort question of yours, because even if I end up as a Genin for the rest of my damn life, I still be the best shinobi this place has ever seen! I'm not scared of you!"

_"Idiot…"_ Shino thought to himself with a chuckle. _"I don't think you even gave a thought to Hinata and myself… Still you have guts…"_

_"YOSH! His eyes were burning with the flames of youth!"_ Lee thought. _"Gai-sensei would be proud, Naruto!"_

_"Naruto-kun… There's no way I could run after hearing that…"_ Hinata thought.

_"That was amazing… The way he gets so fired up is just so… Sexy and… Again with these thoughts?!"_ Tenten thought while blushing and looking away from Naruto.

_"It was more than I thought… He seemed a little weird at first, but now I'm starting to think he's kinda cute…"_ Temari thought.

_"No one else is leaving…"_ Ibiki thought. _"Not that I'd expect them to after that, but still… Let's see, that brought us down to… Seventy-eight candidates still left. That's one hell of a kid you got there, Anko Mitarashi."_ The proctor broke into a hearty laugh. Everyone looked confused at him for a moment, before he regained his cool and suddenly smiled brightly at them. "Congratulations to those of you who are left. You've just completed the first part of the Chunin Exams!"

"What?! What do you mean we're done?!" Choji asked in shock. "What about the last question?!"

"Heh… There is no tenth question past the whole 'accept or reject thing!'" Ibiki replied.

"So why did we have to suffer through those other nine questions?" Shikamaru asked in a lazy tone. "That was such a waste of time, not to mention troublesome."

"The questions were neither troublesome, nor a waste of time." Ibiki said. "The point of those questions were to test your abilities of spying and gathering information."

"Spying?" Kankuro asked.

"Yep." Ibiki answered. "Remember the rule I said at the start? That you pass or fail as a three-man team? It was using that rule that I pressured you with the fear that anything you did wrong would bring your teammates down with you. The catch was that the questions on the test were beyond the answering level of the basic Genin. So most of you came to the same conclusion. That being that the only way to retain all of your answers, was in fact to cheat!"

"In other words, you set up the test with the assumption that we would cheat." Sasuke concluded.

"Correct." Ibiki replied. "To ensure that you would be able to sneak, we snuck to ringers in, two Chunin who new all the answers to the test."

"Of course!" Kiba shouted. "Any idiot could tell, right Akamaru?!" The dog barked happily in response.

_"That idiot had no idea…"_ Sasuke thought.

"Of course, anyone who cheated in an obvious way, failed…" Ibiki said. He paused as he untied his headband/bandana combo. The Genin in the room gasped in horror as they noticed the scars, bruises, and wounds that were all over the top of his head. "There are times when being sloppy and getting caught in an act of espionage can cost you dearly, sometimes in ways that cost more than life itself." he tied the bandana back on, and smiled. He paused as he looked over to the window and smiled. "That time already, huh?"

"That time?" Ino asked.

A large black shadow began to make its way to the window. Suddenly, Naruto got a shaky feeling in the pit of his stomach. He laid his head on the desk and prayed to Kami that he was wrong, that it was just a dream. Funny how things go when you hope for those kinds of things, huh? The glass shattered to pieces as a woman jumped through the window. A banner launched from behind her, which had her name and shinobi rank painted on it. Team Gai, and the Rookie Nine all read the banner, and then glanced back to the blonde with his face on the desk moaning.

"Alright pukes, listen up!" the woman announced. "It's time for the second test of the Chunin Exams! I am the chief proctor, Anko Mitarashi!"

"Why me?" Naruto cried to himself.

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Another chapter draws to a close. I must say that that was the longest chapter I've written yet. The pairings have been decided, the course for the next chapters have been decided, and I must say, I'm bursting with excitement, as this is where the story will be getting into some interesting twists. Wanna find out? Read the next chapter! Read, review, and I'll see ya next time!


	14. The Second Exam Begins

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANYONE ELSE!**

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The room was dead quiet as everyone stared at the woman who just jumped through the window. Naruto's face couldn't be any redder. He thought it was kind of funny when Anko refused to tell him anything about what the exams would be like, and now he knew why. Anko looked about the room at the remaining Genin, and a slight scowl came to her face. She looked back at Ibiki and rolled her eyes at the scarred man.

"Seventy eight Genin?" she asked Ibiki. "You passed twenty six teams this year?!"

"What can I say? We had a slightly higher caliber of kids this year." he replied.

"Bull shit…You just went too easy on him. You're getting old, Ibiki…"

"And you think you can do better?"

"Hell yes I can! By the time I get done, at least half of these guys will be toast!"

"Cut us down by half?!" Sakura thought.

"I'm getting a charge just thinking about this. I'll explain the details of the exam at the next testing area. Everyone follow me to the next destination!" Anko said.

That next destination was Training Ground #44. It was a rather odd looking training ground to the others. There were no training dummies or posts. In fact the grounds around the area looked as if it had been forgotten about years ago. The Genin gazed in awe at the large wired and chained fence that held a giant forest with in it. Well, all except for Naruto. Unlike the last test, he knew what to expect now. It had to do something with the forest, something that he had experience in dealing with since he passed through there on a regular basis.

"Welcome to the arena for the second test of the Chunin Exams, otherwise known as, the Forest of Death!" Anko announced. "Don't worry about the meaning of the name. You're all about to find out why it's called that."

"Please! Is that supposed to scare us or something?!" Naruto shouted. "This place is probably just like the other forests around Konoha! Just another walk in the park!"

He laughed to himself finally having the chance to mess with his mother. Bad move. Very bad move. No sooner had those words left his lips, and Anko tossed a kunai at the boy. He smiled as he moved his head to the left, dodging the blade, only to have another kunai fly at him, grazing the right side of his cheek. She had already appeared behind the blonde Genin, and had her arms wrapped around him. She smiled at the blood that was trickling down his cheek, and reached into her pocket for something.

_"NARUTO-KUN?!"_ Tenten thought. _"What the hell is Anko doing to him?!"_

"Aw… You got something on your cheek there…" Anko said. She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and licked it some before wiping it on his cheek. Naruto had never been redder. "There… Now my big, stwong man is all nice and cwean!"

There was an audible silence among the Genin as they didn't know whether to laugh or piss themselves from the fear that the crazy woman seemed to fill the air with. Though it was fair to say that Kiba and Sasuke were rolling on the inside with laughter. Suddenly the air grew more tense, as Anko grabbed another kunai from a pocket on her coat and held it out behind her. It was pressed rather closely to the throat of a Kusagakure shinobi. The said Genin had a smile on her face as she held two kunai to Anko, wrapped in an oddly lengthened tongue…

"I'm sorry, but you dropped these…" the Kusa Genin said.

"No offense, but there are only a handful of people that I trust to be behind me. You aren't one of them." Anko said as she took the knives from the girl. "I suggest that you not do that, especially while radiating blood lust… Unless you wanna die that is."

"I'll try to keep that under control… You see, the sight of fresh warm blood just makes me lose control."

The other Genin watched as the Kusa woman slipped back into the crowd with her team. Naruto couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something familiar about the woman. She had a smell that he had smelled somewhere recently, but he couldn't remember who it was. Meanwhile, the other Konoha Genin were still in shock about what happened. Kiba already had the hots for Anko. Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, and Sakura thought she was nuts. Sasuke was confused as to why Naruto even let the kunai graze him. He knew Naruto could have dodged it, but didn't.

_"This proctor is also Naruto's kaa-san?"_ Sakura thought. _"She's even more insane than he is… Must run in the family…"_

"Did you really have to do that?" Naruto asked Anko as he rubbed his cheek and rejoined his team. "Talk about embarrassing…"

"Ah… You'll get over it…" Anko smirked as she walked with him. She handed him a stack of papers and grinned. "Now hand those out while I show everyone pictures from one of the first baths I ever gave you."

"NANI?!"

"Relax, gaki… I'm kidding…" Anko replied as she walked back to the front of the Genin. "What blondie is handing out here, are consent forms. Everyone has to sign them and return them to me!"

"Consent forms?" Kankuro asked as he took one from Naruto. "What do we need these for?"

"We want all the details covered before the first death occurs." Anko replied. "Read it over, and then sign it so we won't be held liable for when you die. You wouldn't want me to get in trouble, would ya?"

_"Deaths?"_ Hinata thought. _"Naruto-kun goes through that forest everyday… It's not that dangerous… Is it?"_

"First, I'll explain what the second exam entails, then you can sign forms. After that, bring the forms to the hut behind you with your two teammates, and submit them." Anko explained. "Now for the exam itself. Simply put, it's a no-holds-barred survival test. Let's start with the basic topography of the training ground." She paused as she pulled a scroll out of one of her coat pockets and opened it up to reveal a small map. "Training Ground #44 is bordered by a perimeter, interrupted at forty-four locked gates. Inside of that is a series of forests, a river and about ten kilometers out from that is a tower."

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru yawned.

"Shut up dipshit. This is the part you need to listen to." Anko snapped. "As I said, inside the forest, you will undergo a survival test. During the test, you may use any skills or tools available to you. In a sense, it's kind of a fight-to-the-death version of capture the flag, or in this case capture the scroll."

"Capture the scroll?" Ino asked.

"Yep." Anko replied. She pulled out two more scrolls, a black one and a white one. The black one had the kanji for earth written on it, and the white one had the kanji for heaven on it. She held them both up for the Genin to see. "There is a scroll for earth and a scroll for heaven. It's your job to get them both. There are a total of seventy-eight of you here, or in other words, twenty-six three member teams. Thirteen teams will start out with a Heaven Scroll and the other thirteen teams will start out with an Earth Scroll. The catch is you need them both to pass. You'll have to hold onto the scroll you're given at the start, while managing to get a hold of the other scroll you need to pass the exam with, and then bring them to the tower in the center."

"But there are only thirteen of each scroll." Sakura said aloud. "That means that half of us won't be able to pass the exam."

"Congratulations for figuring that out on your own." Anko smirked. "Not only that, but you have a time limit. You will have 120 hours, or five days to get both scrolls and make it to the tower."

"Five days?" Choji shouted. "What are we supposed to do for food?!"

"That's your problem." Anko replied. "It wouldn't be a survival test if we held your hand and walked you through it all, would it? The forest is full of berries and such that you should be able to use for nourishment. Of course, there are also ferocious beasts, deadly insects, poisonous snakes, and other types of creatures in there to deal with, not to mention the fact that when you all enter, you become each others enemies, no matter what kind of relationship you had before. That being said it should be obvious now that there's no way that a full thirteen teams won't pass. As time shortens, the trials will come harder and faster. The time needed for recovery from injuries and mistakes will shorten drastically. You'll also be surrounded by enemies at all times, so you'll have to sleep with one eye open. In addition to those who will die trying to capture a scroll while protecting their own, many of you will probably succumb to exposure, starvation, dehydration, and exhaustion."

Anko paused as she let all that sink in. There were questionable looks on all of the faces of the Genin, Naruto included. He always knew that his mother was a hard ass, but the fact that she would give out a test that he, no everyone could die from? Maybe the jokes Kakashi, Iruka, and Kurenai were right and she was borderline insane. His attention was snapped back to Anko as she resumed the test's explanation.

"Now we have the basic rules outta the way, let's talk about the rules that pertain to being disqualified. Rule number one, if you fail to reach the tower before time expires, as a three member squad, or with both scrolls in your possession, then you are out. Second, any team that loses a member during the test, be it to death or injury are also out. Third, if you leave the forest for any reason during the test, you're out. Last, you are forbidden to look at the contents of the scrolls until you reach the inside of the tower." she announced.

"What happens if we look at them?" Kiba asked.

"If you're so curious about it, crack it open when the test starts and found out." Anko said with a grin. "On the slim chance that any of you make it to Chunin, there will be times that you will be trusted with top-secret documents. Consider this a test of your trustworthiness." A slight chill filled the air as they took that in. "One last piece of advice… Stay alive."

The teams were dispersed and began to read over and sign the consent forms. They would then take their forms to the hut Anko mentioned earlier, and trade the forms for a scroll. A black curtain was attached to the front of the booth. The curtain would open to allow a team to walk inside and then close as the team inside would trade their forms for a scroll. Sasuke smirked as he watched several teams do this.

_"Pretty sneaky…"_ he thought. _"They conceal which scroll each team gets and which member carries it. That Ibiki guy was right, stealing intelligence is a matter of life and death. In the event that all of us were to fight like she wants us to, this could very well become a massacre…"_

"This is nuts…" Naruto said as he signed the form without even passing it a second glance. "I think she's excited at the thought of some of the others dying…"

"Yo, Naruto!" Kiba shouted as he ran to the blonde. "The proctor is pretty hot, huh? I'd love to--"

"BAKA!" Naruto shouted kicking him in the nads. "That's my kaa-san!"

Naruto walked away from the wailing dog-ninja who was rolling around on the ground. He rejoined his team, and they went behind the curtain to trade their forms for a scroll. The three of them were handed an Earth Scroll. Naruto looked Shino dead in the eye and handed the boy the scroll. They then exited the hut and went towards the gate that they would enter the forest from. Naruto and his squad took gate number 32. As they walked towards the said gate, Shino noticed the slight concern on Hinata's face, and decided to voice her concern for her.

"Naruto, exactly how dangerous is this forest?" the bug ninja asked.

"Well… It can be pretty rough if you're unprepared…" the blonde replied. "Like kaa-san said, there are lots of snakes, poisonous insects, and now enemy ninja to keep an eye out for, but…"

"But?"

"That shouldn't be a problem for us! We got you to keep an eye out for the insects and such. The place I call home is here, so I know my way around here pretty good, and we also got a secret weapon!"

"Weapon?" Hinata asked. "What weapon is that?"

"You!" Naruto smiled. "With your Byakugan, we have the ability to see anything coming at us! There's no way we can lose!"

_"Let's just see how long you keep that train of thought…"_ Dosu thought as he watched Squad Eight talk amongst themselves from a neighboring gate.

"Dosu?!" Zaku called out. "You coming or not?!"

"Right…" the fellow Oto Genin replied as he walked towards gate number 41. When he was sure that he was far away from the rest of the Konoha teams, he looked both Kin and Zaku in the eye and nodded. "You remember who we're going after, right?"

"Yeah…" Kin replied. "But what about the other?"

"Heh… Don't worry 'bout him." Zaku replied. "The boss said he'd take care of him first, then go after the original target."

"While he goes after the first brat, we take care of the other target long enough for him to show up…" Dosu confirmed.

Over at gate number 14, Squad Seven readied themselves to enter the forest. Sasuke was leaning up against the gate, Ino was busy swooning over him, and Kiba was talking to Akamaru. The small puppy barked happily as Kiba petted him on the head before turning to face his team.

"Heh… This is gonna be cake!" Kiba smirked. "There ain't a team here who can take us down!"

"Hn…" Sasuke replied. "Just don't get in the way…"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Kiba asked.

"What the heck do you think it means?!" Ino shouted. "Because of you, we almost failed that C-Rank mission to Amegakure!"

"Please… If Sasu-gay would have been a team player like Kakashi-sensei said we should be, none of the mishaps would have happened!" the dog boy snapped.

_"It was both of your faults…"_ Sasuke thought. _"I work alone, which is when I become Chunin, I can finally reach a step closer to killing him…"_ He paused in his thoughts as he noticed both of his teammates staring at him intently.

"Yo, Sasuke… You alright?" Kiba asked.

"Hn." the raven-haired Uchiha replied as he turned away and waited for the gates to open.

Shikamaru yawned lazily at the gate number 26. The whole thought of this thing was so troublesome. The written test was bad enough, but being stuck in the middle of a forest like this for five days? That was just too much. If it wasn't for fear of hearing another one of Sakura's seemingly endless whining and screaming fits, he'd have jumped ship from this thing long ago. He had just begun to doze off to sleep, when all of a sudden he got the back end of a fist to the head.

"Wake up, baka!" Sakura shouted as she tossed Choji the scroll they had just received. "This isn't anytime to be sleeping!"

"What do you want woman… We have another five minutes before they open the gates…" the Nara replied while rubbing his head and yawning.

"Because! This is time we could be using for planning!" Sakura grinned while looking over at Sasuke and the rest of Squad Seven.

"This is more about them then anything else, isn't it?" Choji asked Shikamaru in a whispered voice.

"It usually is…" he replied lazily.

"Shut up and pay attention!" Sakura snapped. "If you really think about it, they're the weakest team!"

"What does you mean?" Choji asked while munching on a chip.

"Think about it!" Sakura whispered. "Ino's got that mind jutsu thing of her family's, but that's it! Kiba is good at Taijutsu, but is an idiot in everything else!"

"In other words, the only major threat on their team is Sasuke…" Shikamaru finished for her. "You sure this isn't just a clever ruse to get us to keep Wingus and Dingus busy so you can get close to Sasuke?"

"Of course not! They probably have the easiest team to get rid of in the area. That means it'll be a snap to get their scroll!"

"And if they don't have the one we need?"

"Then… Then… We'll just have to hunt down another team! The point will be that we'll have taken out one of the ones standing in the way of the goal!"

"That's all well and good, up until we get warn out and some other team picks us off too."

"What?"

"Think about it, woman… We don't know exactly where we stand against Sasuke's team. While we have been training, so have they, and with Hatake Kakashi as they're Jonin instructor, they could be on a whole different level then us. We need to think things through carefully, or we'll be taken out during the first five minutes of this test." Sakura began to protest, but Shikamaru held his hand up and stopped her. "You want to become a Chunin, right?" She nodded in response. "Then forget about Sasuke for a while, at least until we reach the tower, alright?"

"Idiots…" Neji thought as he watched the scene unfold from gate number 27. "They're almost as pathetic as Hinata-sama's team… No matter, I'm sure they'll be eliminated soon enough…" He opened his eyes as and turned his attention back on to Lee and Tenten.

"Yosh! Is something wrong, my fearless comrade?!" Lee shouted.

"No… Now be quiet…" the Hyuuga prodigy replied.

"That was kind of rude, Neji." Tenten said.

"Listen…" Neji said, completely ignoring what the girl had said. "Once we enter the forest, everyone is an enemy. I don't care what kind of relationship you may have with Mitarashi or my cousin, but the same goes for them, got it?"

"But Neji, they are our comrades…" Lee replied. "It would be unyouthful to just hunt them down like that…"

"If Hinata-sama and her team can't handle the chance that they run into us, or anyone else, then that is their fate." Neji replied as he turned away. "Remember that destiny cannot be changed, what is meant to happen, will happen…"

_"Be careful out there, Naruto-kun…"_ Tenten thought. _"Looks like Neji's gunning for you…"_

Gaara and his siblings sat in anticipation as they waited for the gates to open. The Sunagakure team had taken gate number two as their choice, and were basically sure that they would pass this test, however that didn't stop Kankuro our Temari from being slightly afraid. It wasn't the fact that any of the other teams scared them, but rather, the thought of being stuck with Gaara in the forest for five days did. He always made his daily threats to kill them, and now that no one was there to make sure he didn't, how would they be so sure that they'd survive this time?

_"Man… Five days in the middle of some damn forest with Gaara…"_ Kankuro thought. _"I have this feeling that says this will be the time I die…"_

_"I hope Gaara doesn't flip out or lose control or something like that…"_ Temari thought. _"I also hope I get the chance to run into that cute blonde boy from the other day in this place…"_

Gaara too was lost in thought as he waited for the gates to open. His cold, deathly stare floated from several of the gates, until he caught a glimpse of Naruto. Almost immediately, he could feel a sense of bloodlust rising as the blonde chatted amongst his teammates. A small, almost sinister looking smile crept across Gaara's lips as he felt the anticipation rising.

_"Naruto Mitarashi…"_ he thought. _"Shukaku says you are someone to watch out for… That a familiar presence is inside of you… Are you… Could you possibly be like me?"_

No sooner had those thoughts left Gaara's head, did the gates to the forest suddenly fly open. Immediately, all the various Genin squads took to the forest, bouncing along the various trees and branches that lined the area. Anko smiled as she watched Naruto and the others take off. She wanted Naruto to be safe, but she knew she didn't have much to worry about with him. Still, she had a feeling that this would be an interesting test to monitor this year…

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**DONE! Again, sorry the delay. I finally managed to finish this chapter, and promise that the next one will be longer. I just felt like this was the best place to end this chapter now. The next chapter will have some major action and such, so look forward to that, as well as some of those long awaited twists I know you've all been looking forward to. Read, review, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!**


	15. Chapter 15

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANYONE ELSE!**

**THE STORY OF MITARASHI NARUTO**

**CHAPTER 15: INTO THE FOREST OF DEATH**

A team of Kirigakure Genin make their way through the Forest of Death. They are clad in all black. Only their faces are visible, with their hitai-ate overtop of the foreheads. Unlike other teams, who hunted down safe spots in the forest to plan and strategize, this team was busy trying to hunt down the weakest team they could find, and an easy to nab scroll to boot. Suddenly, their leader smiled as he came to a stop, a smile on his face. His two teammates stopped behind him, curious as to what was going on, until they looked below and a smile came to their faces as well. Down below, completely unaware of the Mist team's presence, was Squad Eight.

"Alright…" Naruto said to Hinata and Shino. "Since the tower is where everyone wants to get, we should get to the area just outside of their, and set our traps their."

"Yes…" Shino replied while raising his eyebrow. "However, let's make sure that we are alone first…"

Naruto and Hinata's eyes widened as they heard Shino stress the alone. The leader of the team of the Kirigakure team chuckled as he watch the team below chat as if they had nothing to worry about. He knew, that they knew of their presence, but that didn't matter to him.

"Look at them…" he said. "Those stupid kids might as well paint a huge target on themselves."

"Still, we should be careful." one of the other members of the team said. "From the sound of things, they do know we're somewhere close by. We should.…"

He froze. Both the leader of the group, as well as his teammate looked over, just in time to see a shiver run up the boys spine. The boy's skin color seemed to pale slightly as his shivering worsened. The leader of the group reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Sano… You alright?" the leader asked. "You're white as a sheet? What the hell is wrong?"

The leader of the team's eyes widened as he saw something moving under Sano's shirt. From out of the neck of the article of clothing, crawled a leech which was in the middle of a most delicious drink. Before either of the other two teammates could react, a rustling of leaves were heard from above. Both teammates looked up, and saw a mass of leaches begin to fall from the trees, and attach themselves to the Kirigakure shinobi. The three fell from the trees, landing in front of Squad Eight. Hinata cringed slightly at the sight of the leeches sucking the blood of the Kirigakure team. Naruto grinned at the sight of the blood covering their bodies while he grabbed the scroll that the team had dropped. He stopped just short of the leader, looking as some of leeches were going to town.

"Man… These things really suck, huh? And pun is totally intended…" Naruto said as he poked a leech with a nearby stick.

"Flying Konoha Leeches…" Shino muttered as he examined one. "They can sense body heat and perspiration, and fling themselves en masse at their prey, which is almost anything that moves… If the victim cannot manage to remove them within five minutes, or if you panic trying to get rid of them, then you're finished… At any rate, one team down."

"What scroll did they have, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Believe it or not, we just got ourselves a Heaven Scroll." Naruto replied. "That was almost too easy…"

"So we'll head to the tower now?" Hinata asked.

"Are you kidding? I'm just now starting to have fun!" Naruto smirked.

"In his own way, Naruto is right…" Shino replied. "Heading to the tower now, will still leave us with too many competitors to face in whatever the next test maybe… Let's remain in the forest for now, and see if we can't get rid of a few more enemies."

Hinata agreed with the two, and the three leapt up in the trees to continue making their way through the forest. As they left, nets resting underneath the downed Kirigakure team, snapped, trapping them in the trees. The team let out a blood curtailing scream as Squad Eight left them, one that managed reached the depths of the forest, and even as far as outside, where Anko sat staring at the clouds waiting for some time to pass before heading to town for a bit.

_"Heh…"_ she thought with a grin. _"One team already down… This year's teams are definitely interesting…"_

She hopped off of the log she was sitting at and made her way into town to grab a bite to eat. After all, just because the kids were having to fight life and death and hunt down anything they can for food didn't mean that she had to do the same.

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Team Seven was progressing through the forest at a nice pace, but found themselves stopping as they heard the screams of the Kirigakure team spread through the forest. Ino moved slightly closer to Sasuke as if he would be able to protect her from harm, however he simply scoffed at her and moved further away. Ino looked around, making sure they were alone before speaking.

"Man… This place is creepy…" she said. "Why in the world did that crazy proctor have to hold it in some place like this?"

"Come on, Ino…" Kiba sighed in disbelief. "This place is no different than any other forest we've been in. I'm tellin' ya, there's nothing to be scared of!"

"For once I agree with Kiba…" Sasuke chipped in. "You're just getting in the way… Stop being annoying and keep your eyes peeled for enemies."

There was a brief silence for a moment as the three looked around. Suddenly, Akamaru began to bark. Kiba looked up at his canine companion as he did so, nodding every so often as he listened to the pup. Needless to say, this scared Ino slightly more than she was already, and she walked closer to the dog ninja to see what was up.

"What is it? Enemies?" she whispered.

"No…" Kiba replied with a serious look on his face. "Me and Akamaru gotta piss."

Another swift moment of silence followed, though for only a minute. Then before you could blink, Ino sent her knuckles crashing into the back of Kiba's head, causing Akamaru to jump off his head, and Kiba to howl in pain. He looked up at the Yamanaka with a clear glare of hate in his eyes.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" he shouted.

"You don't go around saying stuff like that in front of a woman, baka!" Ino shouted back.

"Idiots…" Sasuke thought as he walked forward. Both Genin shut up as he did so, though Kiba's look of hate hadn't displaced yet. "Keep quiet, losers… You're going to give our location away…" He looked over at Kiba and nodded. "Go take the dog and relieve yourselves, but come straight back, got it? I don't care what really happens to you, but I need you and Yamanaka alive to make it to the next test."

"Yeah, yeah…" Kiba muttered as he led Akamaru away into a slightly deeper part of the forest. The two remaining members of Team Seven waited only a moment or two before both Kiba and Akamaru returned. A grin was plastered on his face as he sighed happily. "Whew… That's better!" Akamaru barked happily in response.

Ino sighed again in disbelief. She didn't understand how anyone could be so vulgar, and was beginning to wonder if all of the members of the Inuzuka clan were this way. However, Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the boy. Something didn't seem right to him. Then suddenly, his eyes widened, and quickly ran forward and back handed Kiba, sending the dog ninja to the ground. Needless to say, Ino was shocked. Luckily, Akamaru managed to hop of Kiba's head before the boy hit the ground.

"Sasuke-kun! I appreciate the chivalry, but don't you think that was over doing things a bit?!" Ino shouted at the Uchiha.

"Seriously!" Kiba shouted. "What the hell is your damn problem, teme?!"

"Shut up…" Sasuke replied as he walked closer to the Inuzuka. "Where the hell is Kiba and Akamaru?"

"What are you talking about, Sasuke?" Ino asked. "They're right there!"

"No…" Sasuke replied. He pointed at the boy on the ground as he explained. "Look at his hitai-ate. The leaf symbol on it is backwards. Also, Akamaru's ears are brown, not black. Also, Kiba had a slight limp from where Naruto kicked him before the test began. Kiba isn't the best at henges, but even he's better than you are."

"Heh… Not bad…" the fake Kiba said. A cloud of smoke exploded from where he was sitting, revealing another Kirigakure Genin. Akamaru too disappeared in a cloud of smoke, revealing the dog to be nothing more than a genjutsu at the time. "The Uchiha prodigy lives up to his nickname… Let's see how he fights…"

The enemy shinobi ran straight at the two members of Team Seven. Sasuke cursed as Ino made no move to fight back, as if she was frozen in place. Quickly, the boy ran forward, and leapt into the air while making the necessary hand signs for Katon: Housenka No Jutsu. He blew a barrage of fire balls at the enemy ninja who barely managed to dodge them. Quickly, the Kirigakure Genin countered the Uchiha's attack by leaping at him with a kunai in hand. Sasuke was ready for him though, and descended towards the man with a kunai in his hand as well. The two knives clanged together as they clashed, which was followed by the two opponents jumping away from each other.

"Not bad, Sasuke… Not bad at all…" the Kirigakure Genin chuckled. "However, I have other things to do, so why not hand over that pretty little scroll of yours, and I'll be on my way…"

"I don't think so, buddy!" a voice shouted from above.

Sasuke and the Kirigakure Genin looked up just in time to see the real Kiba jump at them from a tree limb up above. He tossed a handful of kunai at the enemy shinobi, who jumped back as they landed. He looked over the reassembled Team Seven, and chuckled.

"Two on one won't make any difference." he laughed.

"We'll see about that…" Sasuke replied.

Sasuke ran forward and attached a kunai to the sole of his shoe as he ran, a technique he learned through the tree climbing exercise with Kakashi. The Kirigakure ninja jumped back, trying to avoid whatever attack Sasuke was planning, but all the Uchiha did was smile. He stopped his pursuit and reared his leg back, letting loose a powerful kick. The kunai flew forward causing the Kirigakure ninja's eyes to widen. He was about to dodge the attack, when suddenly Sasuke jumped forward, Sharingan Eye activated, and finished thrusting the kunai into the ninja's chest, just narrowly missing his heart.

"Now for the finisher!" Kiba shouted. "One Gatsuuga comin' up!"

The dog boy jumped forward and started spinning in a rapid movement. He aimed straight for the enemy ninja, plowing straight into his stomach, and sending the man falling straight to the forest floor. The Kirigakure ninja stumbled up to his feet, and ran away as fast as he could from Team Seven. He was in no condition to survive another full attack like that from Sasuke and Kiba, and would be damned if he would die here.

"That was close…" Ino sighed in relief. "But did you really have to stab him and stuff like that? Seemed kinda over the line…"

"Ino… Tell me something, do you want to live?" Sasuke suddenly asked.

"What kind of question is that, Sasuke-kun? Of course I want to…"

"Then next time, I suggest doing something other than standing around with your hands in your pockets. Just standing around like that in a situation like that could get you killed, especially if that guy would've had his friends with him." The Uchiha began to walk away, and then stopped to look over his shoulder at Kiba and Ino. "Come on, we need to plan…"

Within the next few minutes, Team Seven was in another forest clearing. They were surrounded closely by trees, and a hollowed stump rested behind them, serving as a hiding spot if need. The three Genin and puppy sat in a closely closed circle, barely whispering just in case they happened to be close in the presence of others.

"Alright… Remember that if we get separated like that again, we can't trust each other blindly like we did back there." the Uchiha said. "We barely got out of that one alright, and things could get worse next time."

"So what are we supposed to do?!" Ino asked.

"Heh… No problem for me! Akamaru and I can smell the difference between you guys and imposters!" Kiba bragged.

"Yeah, but we can't do the same as you, nor can we do that if you aren't around." Sasuke replied. "As useful as your… skills might be, we have to think of another idea…"

"What about a code?" Ino suggested. "Like a password?"

"Good idea." Sasuke answered. "That way, no matter how an enemy looks or sounds, if they get it wrong while looking like us, we'll know they're a fake."

"So what kinda password should we use?" Kiba asked.

"A poem." the Uchiha answered. "It's called the Nikki. When I or one of you ask for it, here's how you respond: "We thrive in chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait, until the enemy lowers the gate."

Ino nodded her head in agreement. Kiba on the other hand, had his eyes closed, trying to focus and replay the poem in his head. He grunted in dissatisfaction as he opened his eyes and glared at Sasuke.

"How do you expect us to remember something like that?!" the dog ninja asked, while Akamaru barked as well. "It's too long and complicated!"

"Baka!" Ino replied, punching him on the back of the head. "I already have it memorized!"

"I think we need a better, shorter password…" Kiba said, rubbing the new lump on the back of his head. "How about… Swordfish?"

"We're using the Nikki." Sasuke simply said. He reached forward and grabbed the team's scroll, placing it in one of his pouches on his belt. "I'll hold on to the scroll. Now, let's go."

The team began to stand up and move, when suddenly, a blade of grass blew through the air, cutting against Kiba's cheek. The dog ninja didn't have time to question it though, as a massive gust of wind soon blew through the clearing. Team Seven did their best to hold on and not be blown away, but in the end, all efforts were wasted, and everything went dark…

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The point of the second test was to whittle down the remaining teams from the first exam by as many as possible. Kankuro and Temari both knew this well. It was hard not to, seeing as how the proctor seemed to enjoy talking about that aspect the most when giving out the rules of this test. The problem though, was the fact that their third teammate was Gaara. Which in most cases meant that whatever opposing team they ran into… Well, they just hoped they wouldn't run into too many, though as expected, things never went their way for long. Kankuro was really wishing that Kami would be on his side just once.

"Looks like we got lucky…" one of the shinobi on the team from Amegakure said. "A couple of wet behind the ear brats from Sunagakure will be nothing to take down."

"I really suggest you guys just turn and run…" Kankuro said. "You idiots wouldn't last a minute against Gaara…"

"Shut up or die…" said boy replied.

Kankuro felt a lump in his throat, and immediately did as told. Gaara slowly pulled the cork out of the gourd on his back.

"Aww… What's the matter?" the Amegakure ninja asked. "An argument between the kiddies? Tell ya what? How about I end this argument for ya nice and quick, and in return, you can give me your scroll."

_"We don't know if this team has a Heaven or an Earth scroll."_ Kankuro thought. _"Then again, they may not even have a scroll at all. Maybe someone else has already ambushed them and took the scroll, and they're hoping to pick one off of us."_ The boy gulped and walked up to his younger brother. "Hey, Gaara… I thought we agreed that we wouldn't fight any team unless we were sure they had the scroll we needed."

"I thought I told you to shut up…" Gaara told the boy, glaring at him from over his shoulder.

"I'd listen to the kid in the hood, boy…" the Amegakure ninja told Gaara. "Just hand us your scroll, and we'll let you all live…"

Gaara turned his stare back to the Amegakure team. Kankuro and Temari both backed up as they recognized the glare on Gaara's face. It was the one he had before he usually killed someone. It gave the two the creeps, mainly because it was the only emotion the boy ever showed.

"Anyone who crosses me is dead…" Gaara said coldly as he stared at the leader of the Amegakure team.

"I like the sound of that…" the enemy shinobi said. "Let's get to it then!"

The Amegakure ninja leapt forward and pulled out several umbrellas that he had strapped to his back. He launched them all into the air, and smirked as he began to run through several hand signs. Gaara seemed unimpressed though, and simply continued to stand with his arms crossed, watching as the Amegakure ninja attacked. Suddenly, the umbrellas seemed to stop in the air as they opened. They all began to spin around, unleashing a barrage of needles. All of which flew downward, heading straight for Gaara.

"You're completely surrounded!" the Amegakure ninja shouted in satisfaction. "There aren't any gaps or blind spots with my Jouro Senbon! Just a thousand needles that will use my chakra to zero in on you like missiles! An easy and effective end!"

As he said, all one thousand needles crashed down upon Gaara. A cloud of dust rose as they did so, causing the attacker to smile as he pictured Gaara's bloody and guaranteed death. He waited with anticipation as the dust cleared. When it did, his obnoxious smile vanished, and was replaced by one of shock and confusion. Gaara remained completely unharmed, protected by a circular barrier of sand. The needles all stuck out of said barrier, none of them reaching their intended target.

"A down pour of one thousand needles, hm?" Gaara said to the Amegakure ninja, causing him to jump. "Well, now it's my turn to respond… With an avalanche of blood…"

"Impossible…" the Amegakure ninja gasped. "Not even one needle hit him… All stopped by that wall of sand…"

"Of course…" Kankuro said. "A trick like that won't work on someone like Gaara. "It was your own bad luck and stupidity that you got stuck fighting him… Gaara's sand acts as an impenetrable defense. Only Gaara has ever mastered this art. He is able to form the sand into a barrier using his own massive chakra, as well as manipulating its shape, size, and hardness. The coolest part though, is he does it with no conscious thought at all. It just happens when he needs it to. In other words, a frontal assault is useless…"

"Lies!" the Amegakure ninja shouted. "Those needles are strong enough to pierce five millimeters of even the strongest tempered steel!"

"Just get over it." Temari sighed. "You're not good enough to touch Gaara."

"Shut up, you little bitch! I'll show you who can't touch who!" the enemy ninja shouted as he charged the Suna team.

He pulled out another umbrella out of its holder, preparing to use it as a sword of sorts. Gaara and his siblings remained perfectly calm as the attack came closer. Kankuro couldn't help, but smile as he noticed Gaara suddenly begin to focus on the Amegakure ninja, and sand slowly beginning to float from the ground and into the air.

"Heh… Your funeral…" Kankuro chuckled. "Don't say I never warned you."

Sand began to flow around the attacking Amegakure ninja, wrapping around his feet, arms, hands, body, and head. Soon, the man was cocooned inside of a giant mass of sand. Gaara slowly began to rotate his hand as the sand cocoon rose into the air, hovering there momentarily. The Amegakure man tried to escape, twisting left and right, screaming, but it was futile. He was right were Gaara wanted him. Gaara rotated his palm just a bit more, causing the sand to squeeze down on the man just enough to send three umbrellas shooting out of the holder on his back. Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro each picked one up, and opened them.

"Too bad you never listened to our warnings." Temari said. "Oh well, bye-bye!"

Gaara then closed his opened palm completely. The sand crushed down all the way, causing an explosion of sand, blood, and a scream to flow out into the area. As the mess cleared, not one trace was left of the Amegakure ninja. Gaara and his siblings were completely clean from the splattered blood, although the umbrellas weren't.

"Sabakukyu, followed by the Sabakusoso…" Gaara said. "Quick and painless… I used way too much force than needed to make sure of that…"

Slowly, one of the remaining members of the Amegakure team walked out and placed a scroll down on the ground.

"Please… J-Just take the scroll, and let us go!" he pleaded.

Unfortunately, his cry fell to deaf ears. For as the Amegakure ninja had begun to walk forward, sand was already slowly beginning to fly into the air once more. Just like their friend before them, both remaining ninja found themselves completely trapped in the sand. Gaara only glared at them before closing his hands, crushing both of them alive on the spot. Their blood and sand splattered onto the field like a rainstorm, neither one even having time to scream. Kankuro walked over calmly to the scroll, smiling as he picked it up.

"Heh… A full set of scrolls…" he said. "Looks like we're done here. Now that we have this Heaven Scroll, we go straight for the tower."

"No…" Gaara muttered. "I haven't been satisfied yet…"

"Come on, Gaara… That's enough!"

"Are you frightened? Coward…"

"Gaara, maybe you'll be fine, but Temari and I can't afford to take any chances! One set of scrolls is all we need! We're done!"

"I don't take orders from you…"

Gaara paused as he looked Kankuro dead in the eyes, hate literally raining out of them. Kankuro slowly walked forward, and returned the glare, grabbing a hold of Gaara in the process.

"That's enough, Gaara! For once just do what your big brother tells you!" Kankuro demanded.

"Fool…" Gaara replied. "I never once thought of either of you as my siblings…"

"Come on, Gaara…" Temari pleaded. "Don't you at least think of me as a sister? Please, let's just go already!"

Gaara sighed, and placed the cork back in the gourd on his back.

"Fine… Let's go…" he said.

The team slowly left the field, heading for the tower. Kankuro looked back at the damage caused by Gaara, and sighed bitterly to himself.

_"This is why I hate kids…"_ he thought.

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Anko relaxed with a sigh as she took another bite of the stick of dango. For some reason, the taste of her favorite food had increased by twenty percent during the exams. While normally she would've wondered what could account for this, but she determined it had to do with the thoughts of all the Genin probably engaging each other in mortal combat. Then, she had the thought of Naruto, and began to wonder if he was alright.

"Heh… What the hell am I thinking?!" she chuckled as she took a sip of the bean soup she was having with her dango. "The kid's a Mitarashi! I raised him to be my own son! He's probably the one kicking the most ass in there!"

She took the final bite of dango, and tossed the empty stick into a nearby tree. Said tree, was now decorated by what must've been almost thirty or forty sticks. All of them were arranged into the Konoha leaf symbol. She took the final sip of her bean soup, and tossed the cup into a nearby trash can, and hopped to her feet.

"Guess I'll head for the tower… The actually talented squads ought to be able to clear the test in under a day's time." she said to herself.

No sooner had those words left her mouth, did a cloud of smoke appear behind her. The woman turned around to see a Chuunin with glasses and a hitai-ate tied on top of his head like a bandana. He looked worried about something, causing the woman to sigh in disgust.

"What's with the look?" Anko asked.

"Terrible news, Anko!" the Chuunin replied.

"Already? What the hell could the problem be this soon?"

"We've found dead bodies! Three of them!"

"Dead bodies?"

"Yes! Please, it's easier to show! Come quickly!"

Anko followed the Chuunin as he requested. He ended up leading her to a small graveyard located in the outer parts of Konoha. Two other Chuunin were already there, examining the dead bodies that the one with glasses informed Anko about.

"Here they are…" the Chuunin told her. Anko walked over for a closer look. "We went through some of their personal belongings, were able to determine that they were from Kusagakure, here to take part in the Chuunin Exams. The weird thing about them though, was that their faces were gone, almost as if they had been melted off. The skin is smooth, like they never even had them to begin with."

Anko's eyes widened as the words of the Chuunin came together in her mind.

_"You… What the hell are you doing here?"_ she thought. Her head jerked back and looked at the Chuunin. "Quick, show me the pictures from their I.D. cards!" The Chuunin produced them at once and handed them to Anko. She gasped in horror as she saw them. "SHIT!"

"What is it?!" the Chuunin asked in confusion.

"Just go get Hokage-sama. Tell him about what you found, and that he sends two ANBU into the Forest of Death!" Anko ordered. "I'm going ahead to catch the imposters!"

The Chuunin nodded and left Anko to do as told. Said woman jumped the fence into the forest, and began jumping from tree to tree. Her heart was racing in fear, anticipation, and anger.

_"Please, Naruto… Please don't be anywhere near that bastard…"_ she thought.

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Sasuke awoke in a daze. The last thing he remembered, was some huge gust of wind blowing through the woods. He was alive, and that was a plus. However, he was alone. Kiba, Ino, and even Akamaru were no where to be seen, and that actually caused him to feel a little bit more nervous than he normally would. He looked around, determining that he had somehow managed to land under a bush, and slowly crawled out, kunai in hand.

"Sasuke-kun!" a familiar voice shouted.

The boy turned around to see Ino coming towards him. Quickly, the boy jumped back, and drew a kunai. He couldn't be too careful, and therefore he had to be on guard. He didn't need to go through a battle similar to what he went through earlier.

"Stop, Ino." Sasuke said, causing the blonde to freeze in her tracks. "Stay back! Don't come any closer until you give me the password!"

"Password?" Ino asked. "Right, the Nikki! We thrive in chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait, until the enemy lowers the gate."

"Good…" Sasuke sighed as he lowered his kunai. "That takes care of you… Now we need to find Kiba and Akamaru…"

No sooner had Sasuke said those words did the said boy and dog come out of the nearby bushes. Kiba sighed happily as he spotted Sasuke and Ino. He began to run over to them, with Akamaru following close behind, barking happily.

"Good, you guys made it!" Kiba shouted.

"Hold on, Kiba. What's the password?" Sasuke asked.

"Heh, the Nikki right? No sweat!" Kiba replied. "We thrive in chaos of the enemy tide. Quiet shinobi don't need dens to hide. Our only concern is to watch and wait, until the enemy lowers the gate."

"Whew…" Ino sighed. "Looks like we're all back together again."

Sasuke smirked though. As Kiba came closer, the Uchiha suddenly reached back and threw a kunai straight at the boy's head. Kiba managed to dodge the kunai, but he was pissed off, as imaginable. Also, Ino didn't look too pleased either.

"What the hell are you doing, Sasuke-kun?!" Ino shouted. "Kiba got the password right!"

"He was fast enough to dodge my kunai this time too…" the Uchiha replied.

"What?" Ino asked in confusion.

"This isn't Kiba…" Sasuke answered for her. "Don't you remember from earlier? Kiba didn't memorize the password. He said that there was no way he could memorize something like that, and then we got blown away."

"Not bad, Sasuke-kun…" Kiba chuckled evilly. "Not bad at all…"

A large cloud of smoke exploded from where Kiba and Akamaru were standing. Both Ino and Sasuke readied a kunai. Both on edge as they waited for the smoke to clear. As it did, a female Kusagakure ninja came into view.

"Well, that means that it's not that Kirigakure team…" Sasuke said.

"Indeed… I am quite impressed that you figured it out so easily." the Kusagakure girl said. "Please tell me, how did you know that I was a fake?"

"As I said before, Kiba had said that he wouldn't be able to memorize something like that in such a short time. Also, I knew you were watching us earlier." the Uchiha said.

"Watching?" Ino asked.

"Yeah…" Sasuke replied. "She was hiding underground the whole time…"

"Quite impressive… This might be more fun than I thought." the Kusagakure ninja chuckled.

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Elsewhere in the forest, Kiba and Akamaru slowly came to. The boy sat upright, shaking his head as he tried to get his bearings straight. Akamaru slowly got up on all fours, stretching in the process.

"Heh… That was a little rough, huh?" Kiba asked the dog as he rose to his feet. He took a look around, frowning in the process. "Looks like Ino and the teme are missing… We better go look for them."

Akamaru barked in agreement. The puppy began to sniff the ground trying to pick up their scent, but suddenly screeched to a stop and began to growl. Kiba looked down, and took a quick sniff of the air. His eyes widened as he looked around, trying to pinpoint the smell.

"Snakes… I know I've smelled this in more than one place…" Kiba muttered. "Stay on guard, Akamaru."

The air became tense as both the dog and Kiba were on guard. The sound of a faint slithering and hissing became present as they carefully stepped forward. Kiba pulled out a kunai, slowly looking around the forest with every step. Suddenly, the growling of Akamaru became barking. Kiba turned around just in time to see a giant snake lunge out of the trees, and straight for the duo. Kiba and Akamaru both managed to jump out of the way just in time. Kiba tossed his kunai at the snake, but as expected it didn't make much of a dent.

"Heh… Didn't think that would work…" Kiba muttered. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a small pill. "Didn't think I'd have to rely on these so soon… Good thing I brought more than one…"

He tossed the pill downward to Akamaru who caught it with ease. The puppy began to chew the pill, and then quickly swallowed it. His fangs began to grow longer, as well as his claws. His fur turned a reddish-brown color, and he began to growl more ferociously.

"Alright… Kiba chuckled as he began to run through several hand signs. "Time for the Shikyaku no Jutsu…"

Kiba hunched down on all fours. His teeth became a little more sharper, resembling those of a dog's. His nails also became longer, resembling claws as well. Akamaru began to growl more as well. Kiba smiled as he nodded, and made another set of hand signs. As he did so, Akamaru jumped on his back. The dog vanished in a cloud of smoke, only to be replaced by a second Kiba. The Kiba on top hopped down to where both were side by side, and the original Kiba smirked.

_"He's gonna lunge again…"_ Kiba thought. _"Just gotta time it right!"_

Sure enough, the snake curled back. It glared at both of the two dog ninjas, licking it's tongue across its lips. Then, without warning, it lunged forward with its mouth open. Kiba and the morphed Akamaru stared intently as the snake's fangs came closer. They both leapt towards the snake's open mouth.

"HERE GOES NOTHING!" both of them shouted at once.

They both leapt into the air, spinning at a rapid rate. Kiba knew that this was a one shot only deal. If he and Akamaru missed, it was all over. He closed his eyes as they neared the snake. He felt the two of them connect to the reptile. He smiled and cheered as he felt them rip through the roof of the snakes mouth. Blood squirted into the air, covering nearby trees, bushes, rocks and such as the creature began die. It emitted a noisy screech as it died, while Kiba sighed as he fell onto his butt.

"Luck…" the dog ninja sighed. "No reason anyone else needs to know that though…" He paused as he looked up in the trees and sniffed the air. "I still smell snakes… I gotta bad feeling about this, Akamaru… We better find Sasuke and Ino, and fast."

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**NEXT CHAPTER: SNAKE BITE!**


	16. Chapter 16

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

**THE STORY OF MITARASHI NARUTO**

**CHAPTER 16: CURSED ENCOUNTER**

Sasuke and Ino both stood cautiously against their foe. Kiba was still missing, and to their knowledge, he was possibly dead. Ino kept one eye on the Kusagakure ninja, but her other on Sasuke. She decided, that she would only act based on how the Uchiha did, and he had yet to make a move, as if he was planning something.

"This woman gives me the creeps…" Ino thought. _"Something about her definitely isn't right. And where in the world is Kiba?! We could really use him in a situation like this…"_

"I suppose you would like to steal my Earth Scroll, wouldn't you?" the Kusagakure woman suddenly asked. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the said scroll, holding it out for Sasuke and Ino to see. "I'm sure it would go quite well your Heaven Scroll…"

"How… When did she--?!" Ino began to question, looking at Sasuke.

"I'm not sure how she knew..." Sasuke replied, reaching into pouch on his belt which held their Heaven Scroll. "But let's not worry about that now. Let's just take her down, get her scroll, and then find Kiba."

"A bold statement, Sasuke-kun… However, there's more important things to worry about than this silly scroll…" the woman chuckled. She raised the scroll for both Genin to see, just before she literally ate the item right in front of them. "Now… Let's put this whole silly scroll business aside for the time being… And get to the real matter at hand…"

"Matter at hand?" Sasuke repeated.

"Indeed…" the woman replied. "A fight to the death!"

The woman slowly raised a hand to her face, her fingernails clawing into her own skin around her eyes. Suddenly, she ripped her hand forward, sending forth a downpour of blood, engulfing both Ino and Sasuke. Both Genin found themselves slamming into a tree trunk, and falling to their knees. Through the blood sailed two kunai, one each embedding itself into their foreheads, managing to pierce straight through Sasuke's hitai-ate even. Both Genin sat on the ground, shaking in fear. Neither one able to move an inch. Slowly, their eyes widened as the blood and kunai disappeared.

"A genjutsu… It was just an illusion…" Sasuke whispered.

He felt something in his stomach gurgle, and he fell to his knees just in time to vomit. Slowly, Sasuke managed to regain his composure just enough to fall back onto his backside, staring in fear at his attacker.

"I… I could have sworn that we were dead… I felt it… The pain… It was so real… Just who the hell is this?!" Sasuke thought. 

He gazed over to his teammate quietly and slowly.

"Ino…" Sasuke whispered.

Ino didn't respond though. Her body was shaking. Tears were streaming from her eyes and down her cheeks. Sasuke cursed under his breath as his eyes shot over to the Kusagakure woman who was laughing once more.

"Damn it… We're dead if we don't get out of here…" he thought. 

"What's the matter, Sasuke-kun? Paralyzed with fear?" the Kusagakure ninja taunted.

"Not quite…" Sasuke replied as he managed to shakily rise to his feet, a kunai resting in his hand. His Sharingan eyes were active once more. "I can move just enough…"

"Is that so?" she replied. "Then let's see just how much…"

The Kusagakure ninja flicked her wrist in the direction of Sasuke and Ino. Sasuke's eyes darted to Ino beside him, and suddenly, he managed to take off running as he looked back, spotting two kunai flying through the air, embedding themselves in the trees as Sasuke managed to get Ino out of the way just in time.

"Too close…" Sasuke thought. _"A minute later, and she'd have been gone… Ino's still out of it too…"_

He paused as he looked down at his kunai. Slowly, he brought it up, his wrist shaking as he did so.

"No choice…" he continued to think. _"I have to do it."_

The sound of steel breaking flesh entered the air. Ino's eyes suddenly blinked, and she stared in shock at Sasuke. The Uchiha had taken his kunai, and driven it into his thigh, using the pain to keep himself alert and moving instead of falling back into that near paralysis state. The Kusagakure ninja watched this from the trees with amused eyes.

"Good, Sasuke-kun… It appears you are far more worthy of my time than the common prey… Keep it up…" she thought. 

Ino was worried about Sasuke though. That measure he had taken was quite wild. And he seemed to be losing his cool quickly as he breathed heavily.

"Sasuke… Are you alright?" Ino asked, only to receive no answer. "Sasuke? Sasuke, what is it? Sasuke answer m-"

Sasuke's hand quickly went overtop of Ino's mouth, silencing the girl effectively. Her eyes widened as Sasuke began to panic, looking around for any trace of the two's attacker.

"We've got to move fast, or she'll find us again…" Sasuke thought. _"But… Where do we go… Where can we go?!" _

"Sasuke…" Ino thought as she watched the Uchiha boy quickly fall apart. _"I've never seen him so jumpy…So scared…"_

Her eyes widened as she began to here a slithering sound. Slowly, Ino's eyes drifted upward, coming to meet those of a snake, slithering down the tree to behind Sasuke. She began to struggle, trying to get Sasuke's attention. The Uchiha's eyes shot over to his teammate's direction, and came face to face with the snake. He cursed as he quickly released Ino's mouth, both jumping of the branch as it lunged forward. Ino managed to land away on another branch, safe from harm. However, the snake had already attacked again, chasing after Sasuke as he moved through the air. The boy reached into his shuriken pouch, and pulled out a handful of the throwing stars, and quickly hurled them at the snake, piercing through the beast as its mouth was snapped open in an attempt to devour Sasuke. He sighed in relief as he landed on a branch to catch his breath, Ino doing the same as she watched.

However, the two's celebration didn't last long. As the snake landed on a lower branch, a sizable lump appeared in its throat. Sasuke's eyes widened as the lump began to press against the snake's skin, until a loud rip echoed through the air. From the hole in the snake rose the Kusagakure ninja, smiling in a sadistic manner as she eyed Sasuke.

"Shame on you, Sasuke-kun… Letting your guard down like that… Good prey stays on their toes…" the Kusagakure ninja taunted. "It makes the chase so much more enjoyable… for the predator…"

The woman began to wrap herself around and scale upwards against the tree. Much like a snake. Sasuke quickly grabbed his kunai once more, preparing himself for battle. However, before he could engage the ninja woman in combat, a gray blur spun out of the trees, colliding into the woman, knocking her to the ground below. Ino gasped in surprise. Sasuke's eyes widened in shock. The Kusagakure ninja frowned.

"Hey, Sasuke… I don't remember that damn password." Kiba said with a smirk as he eyed the Kusagakure woman.

Akamaru landed beside him, still in the shape of Kiba. He simply nodded in agreement, eyeing the Kusagakure ninja as his master did. Ino smiled and cheered.

"Alright, Kiba!" she shouted. "That was amazing!"

"Kiba, huh?" Sasuke thought. _"About time you showed up, but it's too late now."_

The Uchiha sighed as he put his kunai away. He slowly walked forward, gaining the attention of all who were present.

"Kiba…" Sasuke began. "I know you must be stoked to finally be doing something useful… Saving the day and all, but forget it. The best thing to do right now is retreat. This woman… She's way out of our league…"

The Kusagakure woman smiled.

"My compliments on defeating the giant snake, Kiba…" she said. "It is quite impressive that you managed to do so."

Kiba glared at the woman cautiously. Akamaru looked around and nodded, gaining the attention of his master. Kiba sniffed the air and nodded back.

"You're right, boy… I smell them coming from her too. She smells just like a snake." Kiba told the dog shaped like him. "And when I look at her, all that comes to mind is snake… I bet that big-ass snake was hers… And she's probably the one that beat the crap out of Sasuke and Ino like that…"

Akamaru nodded, and Kiba grinned.

"Let's take care of this." Kiba told the dog. He looked straight at the woman and smiled. "You've been having it pretty easy up 'til now, but you're out of luck! So go slither on back to whatever hole you climbed out of, 'cause you ain't got no hope of beating me!"

"That idiot!" Sasuke thought with a grimace. _"He's going to get us all killed! I have to think of something, now!"_

He looked at the Kusagakure woman and Kiba, and then frowned more. His Sharingan eyes deactivated, and he then slowly walked forward. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out the team's scroll.

"This is all I can think of… Here goes nothing…" Sasuke thought. 

He gripped the scroll tighter, and slowly reached out. Kiba and Ino's eyes narrowed as the watched the display, Kiba beginning to feel more and more angry with every passing moment. Slowly, Sasuke extended his arm forward, holding the scroll for anyone to take.

"Here." Sasuke said as he eyed the Kusagakure woman. "If it's this damn scroll you want, then it's all yours. Just take it, leave, and leave us alone!"

"What?" Ino whispered.

"Sasuke, what the hell are you doing?!" Kiba demanded. Pure anger was hanging in his voice. "This better be some clever way of beating this woman and not just handing over everything we got!"

"Shut up, Kiba!" Sasuke shot back.

The Kusagakure woman laughed as she watched the display.

"Now now, Kiba…" she chuckled. "Don't be too hard on Sasuke-kun… I mean, it is only the natural defense of prey to try and distract the predator with tastier bait."

Sasuke spit in the woman's direction.

"Whatever…" he mumbled. "Just take the scroll and go."

The Uchiha tossed the scroll to the Kusagakure ninja. However, before the scroll got to her, it was intercepted by two gray blurs. Both Kiba and Akamaru had jumped in the way of the flying scroll. Akamaru, who was still shaped like Kiba, was holding the scroll tightly in his mouth. Sasuke stared at Kiba, anger welling up.

"You idiot!" he shouted as he turned to the dog ninja. "Stay out of this! You're going to ruin everything!"

Sasuke didn't have another chance to say anything though. Kiba made sure of that, as his clawed hand flew right into Sasuke's jaw, sending the Uchiha falling on his ass. Ino gasped in shock, and the Kusagakure ninja merely watched in amusement.

"Kiba, what the hell are you doing?!" Sasuke demanded.

"Shut up, teme!" Kiba shouted. "I forgot the password, so I can't prove it… But you clearly are not Sasuke!"

"What? You idiot! I AM Sasuke!" the Uchiha demanded.

"I said to shut up!" Kiba replied. "Sasuke may be a teme… But he's not some chicken! He doesn't quit just because something gets tough! Besides, even if we did hand over the scroll… This woman may not let us live. So not only are you a chicken, but you ARE the idiot!"

At this point, the Kusagakure woman was no longer chuckling, but laughing as hard as she could. She smiled as she wiped a tear from her eye, looking at Kiba and Sasuke.

"Kiba, you are a riot…" she said, licking her lips. Slowly, she pulled up the sleeve on her right arm, revealing a snake shaped tattoo. "You are right, though… Why bargain… When I can simply kill you all and take the scroll!"

The woman quickly bit her thumb and dragged it across the tattoo, leaving a line of blood down the middle. Kiba and Akamaru both growl and ran on all fours at the Kusagakure ninja. Kiba bared his fangs and claws as he launched himself at her, yet the woman remained perfectly calm. Although the said can't be said for Sasuke, who began to panic once more.

"Kiba, get back here and stop it!" he shouted.

The Genin in question didn't reply, however. He didn't stop charging either. Kiba's sights were set directly on the woman, and he was ready to take her down.

"Damn it…" he said aloud, though in a hushed voice. "My faith in Uchiha is completely shot…"

Kiba's eyes narrowed as he and Akamaru neared their target. A mass of chakra began to build up around the woman, and then it swirled outward. A massive shape began to form underneath the Kusagakure woman, revealing a giant snake. The woman smirked as Kiba and Akamaru's eyes widened.

"Damn it!" he shouted as the snake snapped itself forward, breaking the branch that Kiba was charging on straight in half, and sending both the boy and the dog into the air. "Akamaru!" Kiba shouted as the dog hit the ground with a thud.

A puff of smoke erupted from the mark where the dog hit, transforming him back from a Kiba look-a-like, to his normal, tiny dog form. Kiba landed on another branch. His eyes were glaring at the Kusagakure woman with pure hate.

"Alright, you teme…" he muttered as he got on all fours again. "No more foolin' around. You will go down here!"

"A foolish attempt…" the woman from Kusagakure replied. "Finish him off, but make sure to eat him too. I don't want to take anymore chances."

The snake seemed to nod and charged forward at the branch Kiba was standing on. Kiba remained silent and still as the snake charged. Sasuke and Ino looked on in anticipation. He waited a moment more, and then began to run along the branch as fast as he could. Kiba then launched himself through the air, still keeping his sights on the snake and woman as they got closer. Slowly, a grin came to his lips, right as the snake opened its mouth to swallow Kiba.

"NOW!" the Inuzuka shouted.

Kiba began to spin at a rapid and furious rate once more. He spun right into the snake's mouth, and literally began to rip through its inners. Sasuke and Ino watched in shock and amazement as the boy tore through the serpent, which was also impressive to the Kusagakure woman as well.

"Incredible… Kiba took it down like it was nothing…" Ino thought. 

Kiba smirked as he landed in front of Sasuke. The snake crashed down to the ground shortly in front of him. Breathing heavily, Kiba arose to a normal stature and looked over his shoulder at the Uchiha.

"Hey, Sasuke…" he said with a sneer. "Are you alright, ya big chicken?"

"He is…" a familiar voice muttered. "But you should worry more about yourself.

Kiba and Sasuke's eyes snapped upward to meet those of the Kusagakure ninja. She began to laugh as her tongue shot out of her mouth, and wrapped around Kiba, lifting him up into the air. The Inuzuka began to struggle around in the air trying to free himself. The Kusagakure woman smiled more at his feeble attempts.

"You've gotten in the way enough, boy…" she muttered to Kiba, as her tongue slammed him into the ground. "So I think it's time that you took a little nap…" Kiba screamed in pain as he was slammed into a tree. "So sleep…" This time the boy was slammed into the ground again. "And stay out of business that does not concern you."

The woman slammed Kiba into the ground one final time, and smiled as he was reduced to a motionless mass in her grasp. The woman smiled as she reached into his pocket, and pulled the team's scroll out. She then tossed Kiba into the air, and right over her shoulder. Ino's eyes widened while Sasuke remained motionless, watching the event taking place before him. Quickly, the Yamanaka fired a kunai after Kiba, which managed to snag through the back of his coat, and embed itself into a tree, managing to keep him hanging there in the air before he fell to the ground.

"Whew…" Ino sighed. "Got him…"

She looked over at the boy hanging in the air, and then back over at Sasuke. Sasuke was still watching the display, not joining the fight at all. Ino felt herself get pissed. Slowly, she got up, and walked over the branch from where she once stood, and jumped over to the one Sasuke was, and smacked him. Loud and hard.

"H-How could you… How could you just sit there and watch that?!" Ino demanded. "Kiba just fought with everything he had, and you gave up! Sure, he's nothing like you at all… Kiba's loud, annoying, he smells bad, and he's a pain in the ass to deal with almost all the time… But at least Kiba's not a chicken who gives up like you!"

"Ino…" Sasuke whispered. "Arigato…"

Ino's eyes widened as she looked at Sasuke. She gasped as the Sharingan eyes reappeared once more. The Uchiha rose to his feet once more, and began to walk toward the Kusagakure ninja again. She smiled as he walked closer, slowly licking her lips in anticipation.

"It appears that Sasuke-kun is going to come at me with the strength of his ancestors…" the Kusagakure woman thought. _"Well then… I'll take my time, so you can show me what you can really do…"_

Sasuke reached into his weapon pouch on his belt. He quickly pulled out a large shuriken, and several kunai. His Sharingan eyes glared at the Kusagakure woman, before he charged off in her direction, ready to strike once more. The Kusagakure woman watched in amusement. Quickly, Sasuke jumped down the tree, and fired off his kunai in her direction. The woman smiled and ran in a motion resembling a slithering snake. She easily managed to dodge all the blades, and ran straight for Sasuke. The Uchiha's eyes narrowed and he grabbed the bark of the tree to slow himself as he fell. He managed to swing around the tree, making it to where he was facing the Kusagakure woman as she ran along the branch. Sasuke threw his shuriken at the woman, who easily managed to dodge the attack by jumping over the weapon. However, as Sasuke threw the shuriken, he swung back around the tree. Taking a final kunai that he had been holding onto in his mouth, Sasuke took a deep breath, carefully eyeing a wire that had been tied around the loop on the base of the handle. Sasuke focused some chakra into the kunai, and then flipped around the tree to face the woman once more, letting the blade fly in her direction. The woman smiled as she leaned in one direction to dodge it, but this only lasted a moment.

It was at that moment as that Sasuke quickly leaned back against the tree, and pulled back as he did so. A string was in his mouth, and one in each hand. The woman traced each string. One in the kunai he had just fired, one in a kunai he had threw just a moment ago, and one from the shuriken she jumped over. The Kusagakure woman's eyes shot back at Sasuke, who smirked in satisfaction while making a quick hand sign.

"Way to go, Sasuke-kun!" Ino cheered. "Now finish him off!"

The Kusagakure woman smirked, but this went unnoticed by the Uchiha. He began to breath gently, sending a flamed down the wire which he held in his mouth. Stray sparks of flame managed to land on the wires held in his hand, catching all three on fire, and the flames heading straight for the woman. She began to laugh as the flames went by her, and to the surprise of Sasuke and Ino, engulfed the woman's head as well. They watched as the flames died, and the woman slowly turned around. Ino gasped in shock.

"Her face…" she whispered. "It… It looks like… It's melting…"

"Not only that…" Sasuke thought as he looked closer. _"There's something else… A face underneath…"_

"Marvelous… Simply marvelous…" the woman applauded. "That one so young would have such a mastery over the power of the Sharingan… I was right to come after you after all…"

"Sasuke…" Ino whispered as she leapt over to the branch the Uchiha stood on.

"You truly do live up to the name of Uchiha…" the Kusagakure woman said as she brought a hand to her hitai-ate.

She rested her palm over top of the grass symbol, before slowly lowering it to reveal a music note instead.

"A music note…" Ino thought. _"Where have I seen that before…"_

"You really are his brother, aren't you?" the enemy ninja asked. "You have potential… Such power… There are you can see and conceal with those eyes that Itachi never dreamed of…"

Sasuke froze in horror at the mention of that name. His eyes darkened. His hands clenched together, as he glared at the enemy ninja with a new level of hate.

"How… How do you know that name?" Sasuke asked. "Who the hell are you?!"

"My name?" the enemy ninja asked. Both Genin's eyes widened as the voice switched from female to male. "My name is Orochimaru… The Sannin of the Snake…"

Orochimaru held the scroll out, the one he took from Kiba moments ago, and grinned as it caught fire in his palm. He slowly looked up from the burning Heaven Scroll, and into the eyes of Sasuke and Ino. He smiled as Sasuke's eyes had returned to their normal state.

"If you should ever want a rematch… Then I suggest you finish this exam as fast as you can, Sasuke-kun…" the Snake Sannin said. "I'll see you again if you manage to survive this exam, and those of the Otogakure shinobi who answer to me."

"What are you talking about?!" Ino shouted at Orochimaru. "We don't want to ever see your face again!"

"Maybe not…" Orochimaru replied as he made a set of hand signs. "However, simply wishing will not make me disappear…"

At that moment, Orochimaru's neck shot forward. It slithered around, resembling a snake as it aimed straight for Sasuke. It traveled at a speed that neither Genin could track. Before he could move, Orochimaru had latched onto the back of Sasuke's neck, biting down with his fangs. He sat there for a moment, before slowly pulling away from the Uchiha's neck, and then the Sanin's own neck returned to its normal place. He smiled as the black marks appeared on the back of Sasuke's neck where the Sanin bit, and swirled around making an evil design. Sasuke began to shake slowly. He hunched over, holding his head in pain as he fell to his knees, screaming in pain.

"D-Damn it… It hurts… IT HURTS!" Sasuke screamed.

Ino tried to help Sasuke stable himself. Worry was evident in her eyes as she stared at the boy screaming in pain. The laughter of Orochimaru filled the air, causing her eyes to shoot back over to him.

"I look forward to seeing you again, Sasuke-kun…" chuckled Orochimaru. "In your quest for power…"

Ino frowned and rose to her feet, a kunai in hand as she shakily pointed it at the Sanin.

"You… What the hell did you do to Sasuke-kun?!" she screamed as she tossed the kunai at Orochimaru.

"Just a little something to remember me by…" the man replied as he began to sink into the tree, easily dodging the kunai in the process.

Ino was about to chase after the Sanin, but Sasuke's screams snapped her attention back over to him. She watched as Sasuke began to have a fit of pain. His body shook, as he screamed once more, trying his hardest to overcome the pain. Ino fell to her knees, trying to calm the boy.

"Sasuke… Sasuke, please answer me!" she pleaded.

The plea fell to deaf ears. Ino's eyes widened as one of Sasuke's hand rose into the air, as if reaching out for her. The Yamanaka quickly gave him a hand, grunting in pain as Sasuke tightly held onto hers. Ino watched with tears in her eyes as her idol… Her crush cried in pain, trying anything to get it to stop. Ino looked up and around.

"Sasuke… Please hold on…" she begged. "Kiba, get over here! Sasuke-kun is…"

She trailed off as her eyes met Kiba's limp form, still hanging from the tree by a kunai through his jacket. Ino's eyes followed the tree down, seeing Akamaru whimpering in pain at the base, as if every breath was a pain for him. Her eyes then went back to Sasuke, focusing on the black mark on his neck. Slowly, Sasuke's cries fell to a hush, as the boy began to fall unconscious. Ino quickly reached out and pulled the Uchiha in before he hit the branch of the tree, as if he was the final life line for her to hold to. Kiba, Sasuke, and Akamaru… All of them were down and out for the count. Ino realized that this time, she was alone… And the fate of the team, was now in her hands…

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Mitarashi Anko cursed under breath as she leapt through the forest. It was already dusk, and there had still been no sign of her target. With every moment that slipped by, Naruto, all of the other Konoha Genin, the other participants of the Chunin Exams, and Konoha itself, slipped into danger. She wasn't sure what her target was doing here, but Anko knew that she had to take him down here and now. It was her goal, her mission, and her life's ambition.

"I have to find that teme and soon!" Anko said aloud as she traveled. "The darker it gets, the worse this whole mess will get. But why did you choose to show up now? What are you after?!"

She chuckled and shook her head as she leapt tree to tree. The only sound she made with each leap being her own breath.

"It doesn't really matter…" she went on. "If it really is you, then we'll end this here and now. This has been coming for sometime now… Years even… And I will be the one to kill you, even if it kills me."

She jumped to another branch, stopping to catch her breath. Anko rested a palm against the bark of the tree, and began to look around, slowly closing her eyes.

"After all, it's my duty… My life's mission! It's what I learned from my greatest sensei ever… What I learned from you…" Anko finished. A smile graced her lips as she looked back at a face appearing in the tree. "Isn't it, Orochimaru?"

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NEXT CHAPTER: GENERATIONS!


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